Child rights advocates on Wednesday expressed alarm over the 2.6-million unregistered Filipino children.
At a news conference in Quezon City, Pauline de Guzman, Children Rights Network representative, blamed “poverty and geographical barriers” as two of the major reasons why many children could not have their births registered on time.
Registration offices are too far away and the fee for birth registration is not affordable to the poor, she said.
She said 2.6-million unregistered children was just 35 percent of the total unregistered Filipinos, adding “this means that 7.5-million Filipinos do not have access to civil registry documents.”
Moreover, De Guzman said, to have an authenticated and valid civil registry for birth, death or marriage, one must secure a copy from the Philippine Statistics Authority, and not from the local civil registry.
The number of PSA regional and field offices is “not directly” proportionate to the number of cities and municipalities in the country, she cited.
She called for the digitization and establishment of a “culturally sensitive” barangay civil registration system to encourage more Muslims and members of the indigenous peoples communities to have their “vital” events registered as soon as possible.
Maria Consolacion Salcedo, program officer of the Council for the Welfare of Children, said “we [in the government] want to secure the welfare of the children. A birth certificate is the only piece of legal document a child needs from the day he or she is born. Without it, everything is affected,” she told the conference.
Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat said “I was indeed very shocked to know there are 2.6-million children without registration.
“When I was then a mayor, the municipal government waived the fees for birth registration and even late registration,” he said.
He said many local government units have not relaxed their policies in collecting fees for birth, marriage and death registration.
“The indigenous people are the most marginalized sector [of society] and lack the political voice not only in the national government but also in the local government [level] for their basic services,” he said.
“Even the unions of indigenous peoples solemnized by a native priest or whatever you call him are not documented.”
Baguilat, a three-term congressman, said the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Bill he filed was still at the committee level.