1st Nat'l Convention of Civil Registrars requests amendment to RA 9048

By Lorry V. Gabule

Monday 11th of June 2012

ILIGAN CITY, Lanao del Norte, June 11 (PIA) -- A 49-man delegation from the City of Iligan attended the First National Convention of Civil Registrars and Partners in Civil Registration, at the summer capital of the Philippines, Baguio City.

Sponsored by the Philippine Association of Civil Registrars (PACR), Inc., the convention is the first of its kind, where local civil registrars and partners nationwide converged to contribute insights, experiences, technologies, expertise, and wisdom to sustainably improve Philippine Civil Registration.

Avenido said the Iligan delegates composed of officers and staff of the Office of the City Civil Registrar, 45 barangay officials, and employees from 13 barangays, this city.

At the end of the convention, the specific roles of the barangays as our partners, were defined addressing the actual problems and needs of civil registration, taking into consideration the lessons learned in the past implementation process and present trends in crafting future implementation, said Civil Registrar Asuncion S. Avenido.

She added, one significant output of the convention is the filing of a petition in aid of legislation requesting to authorize the city/municipal civil registrars to decide cases over petitions to be filed for the correction of sex or gender and age as amendments to Republic Act 9048 (Clerical Error Law).

At present, the authority of civil registrars is limited to correction of clerical errors and change of first name. It excludes matters involving sex, age, nationality, and status wherein only the courts can decide.

Lastly, we have submitted a proposal for the granting of Magna Carta allowance for all permanent civil registry personnel to compensate for their barangay outreach program, risks, and volume of work, disclosed Avenido.

The event is anchored to its theme: “Strengthening the Role of Civil Registration Partners Towards National Development Goals.” (LVG/Miguel BMunez/CCRO Iligan/PIA 10-LDN)