My Birth Certificate Woes

Warning: This is a lengthy post.

Photo courtesy of www.psa.gov.ph

It all started because I wanted to travel the world and to do so, I need to have a passport. While on the process of collecting my documents so that I could apply for one, I unfortunately found out that there are many issues involving my birth certificate after receiving a copy from then National Statistics Office or NSO (now Philippine Statistics Authority or PSA).

Firstly, my certificate of live birth does not indicate my “First and Last Names”. The only items that were filled out were my “Middle Name” and other details such as the date when I was born as well as my place of birth, the names of my parents, and the name of the OB-Gynecologist who attended to my mother at the time of my birth.

Second, since my parents were not married, I am considered as an illegitimate child. I can use my father’s last name as long as he acknowledged that I am indeed his child. There is a section at the back of my birth certificate regarding the acknowledgement however, my father wasn’t able to sign it due to the circumstances of my birth (as per my mother’s explanation).

Finally, my father died a long time ago without any written proof that he acknowledged me as his child thus as a rule, I am not allowed by the law to use his Last Name. However, I’ve been using it in all of my school and government records ever since. 

I went to the Local Civil Registry office in Manila (as I was born in Manila) to seek for an advise on what to do regarding my case. They told me to get a local copy of my birth certificate first because there are times that NSO copies are not updated especially if there has been changes made on someone's birth records in their end and a transmittal hasn't been done yet. So I did as I was told and was surprised to see that indeed, there was a supplemental report filed by my father to supply my first name on the birth certificate but my last name remains blank. I guess this is because at that time, he was still not married with my mother (they didn’t really get married anyway).

Since the changes made already reflects the local copy of my birth certificate, I was then instructed to file for a transmittal report so that my NSO records will be updated. I paid less than Php 500 for the whole process (getting the local copy + filing the transmittal) and was informed that I can already get an updated copy of my birth certificate from NSO after a month. I also asked one of the staff if there is anything that we could do about my last name since my father already passed away. She explained that if there is no written document proving that I was acknowledged by my father, they can’t do anything about it and that I may need to consult a lawyer about this matter.

Uh oh! Consulting a lawyer means appearing in the courts and going through a very tedious process that were both time and money consuming. Well, I’m not rich so together with my mother, we decided to seek the assistance of the Public Attorney's Office (PAO). Luckily, they are kind enough to answer all of my concerns and queries. I was told that since my father wouldn’t be able to testify and sign necessary documents, I will not be able to use his last name and that I should just use my middle name (my mother’s maiden name) as my last name so it will appear that I don’t have a middle name.

I was given several copies of originally signed and notarized affidavit stating that I am one and the same person and that all my school, employment, and government records should be updated bearing my name as it appears on my birth certificate. Now, I have to go back to my school since elementary and update everything from there then I have to go to different government offices to do the same. Oh well, what can I do? Anyway, this was a much better option than going to the courts right? I hope I can finish everything before October though. With that, Good luck to me!  X___X

If you need any legal assistance, here are the contact details from our Public Attorney's Office (PAO):

Public Attorney's Office Central Office

Office Address: 4th & 5th Floors DOJ Agencies Building
                       NIA Rd. corner East Ave., Diliman, Quezon City
 Hotline: (02) 929-9436; (02) 4262075; (02) 4262801; (02) 4262450; (02) 4262987; (02) 4262683

Local 106/107 (Office Hours)

Local 159 (Outside Office Hours)

Email:  pao_executive@yahoo.com

See you soon! :)