TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Feb. 12 (PIA)–Civil registration is a continuous, permanent and compulsory recording of vital events occurring in the life of an individual such as birth, marriage and death, as well as court decrees and legal instruments affecting the civil status of an individual.
The offices that are mainly concerned of these processes are the National Statistics Office (now Philippine Statistics Authority) and the Local Civil Registry Offices of the whole country, as provided for in Act No. 3753 which is the Civil Registry Law of the Philippines.
To promote advocacy on timely registration, every February is celebrated as Civil Registration month. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Ikaw at Ako Tungo sa Wastong Pagrerehistro”.
This month, the offices are occupied with several activities related to civil registration. These include the conduct of information dissemination and symposia on Civil Registry Matters in different educational institutions, Mobile Registrations in different barangays/municipalities, radio interviews, hanging of streamers, free issuance of certifications and motorcade in partnership with the Local Government Units (LGUs) province-wide.
Simultaneously, NSO is informing the public that by virtue of Republic Act 10625 (Philippine Statistical Act of 2013) which took effect last December 29, 2013, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) was created by merging the major statistical agencies of the government, comprised by NSO, National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) and Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS).
RA 10625 also provides for the creation of the Philippine Statistical Research and Training Institute (PSRTI) to replace the Statistical Research and Training Center (SRTC). Last January 9, 2014, Hon. Carmelita N. Ericta was designated as the OIC National Statistician of PSA and the OIC Executive Director of PSRTI. For now, the affected offices are still in hold-over capacity in order to continue to produce quality and timely statistics and civil registration and services. (PIA7-Bohol/ECB/PSA)
