PRESIDENT CARLOS P. GARCIA, Bohol (PIA) — Marino (not his real name), a 62-year-old fisherman from Tilmobo Island, received a copy of his live birth certificate for the first time on June 19, more than six decades after his birth.
He got the document, printed on security paper, for free under the Birth Registration Assistance Program (BRAP) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Marino and nine other residents displayed their birth documents and posed for a group photo during the Abante Negosyo Service Caravan at the Governor Erico B. Aumentado Gymnasium here.
Several of them could not previously obtain the document because they were not registered at birth, leaving the PSA with no record to release when they requested a copy.
The PSA hand-carried the documents for distribution at the caravan.
More than 100 other applicants did not attend, leaving their certificates unclaimed.
Marino said he had tried to secure his registered birth document in earlier administrations but found he was not in the records.
Through BRAP, which he and hundreds of other residents of President Carlos P. Garcia (PCPG) and its outlying islands used, Marino now has access to government services such as social protection, health care, and other relief programs.
His birth certificate and PhilID serve as his proof of identity.
BRAP is a nationwide program that registers unregistered Filipinos, particularly those in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA), indigenous peoples, and low-income families whose birth registration is often not a priority.
It enrolls them in the civil registry so they can receive their Certificate of Live Birth (COLB) for free during PSA service caravans, and links their records to the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys).
The PSA regularly releases birth certificates on request through its Serbilis outlets or the Batch Request Query System, in partnership with local civil registrars (LCR), for registered records.
BRAP, by contrast, registers births that were never recorded or were recorded late.
LCRs help establish, verify, and register the birth before the free certificate is issued, according to the PSA.
Residents who applied under BRAP but did not claim their COLB during the June 19 caravan may claim it at the Office of the Local Civil Registrar at the PCPG Municipal Hall, the PSA said. (Rey Anthony Chiu/ PIA Bohol)
