Republic of the Philippines 
House of Representatives 
Quezon City 
EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS 
Third Regular Session 
House Bill No. _____________ 
Introduced by REPRESENTATIVE ERIC L. OLIVAREZ 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Civil registration is an important factor in the functioning and development of 
the country. Particularly the registration of births and deaths each year, as well as the 
causes of their deaths, contribute to have well-functioning systems. Registration of 
legal instruments affecting the civil status of persons helps in providing clear proof in 
order to protect the rights of persons. Civil registration is not just some mandatory 
requirement that the government requires everyone to do just for records keeping. 
Civil registration is a key component in protecting the rights of the Filipinos, facilitating 
public service delivery and monitoring national health. The civil registration system in 
the country is currently facing challenges mainly because of a lack of access to 
registrar offices.  
In response to the need to enhance the civil registration system in the country, 
this bill seeks to establish a comprehensive civil registration system that shall be more 
accessible and more responsive to Filipinos. Salient provisions of this Bill include the 
establishment of the Barangay Civil Registration system which shall be utilized to 
assist civil registration within the barangay’s respective jurisdiction. Through the 
establishment of a Barangay Civil Registration system, civil registration will become 
more accessible and responsive to all Filipinos all over the country. Furthermore, this 
Bill shall provide the methods of registering different kinds of legal instruments 
affecting the civil status of persons.  
In view of the foregoing, the passage of this Bill is earnestly sought. 
ERIC L. OLIVAREZ 
January 13, 2022
11:52 am
10664


Republic of the Philippines 
House of Representatives 
Quezon City 
EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS 
Third Regular Session 
House Bill No. _____________ 
Introduced by REPRESENTATIVE ERIC L. OLIVAREZ 
“AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A COMPREHENSIVE CIVIL 
REGISTRATION SYSTEM” 
Be it enacted in the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Republic of the 
Philippines in Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. – This Act shall be known as the “Civil 
Registration Act 2022” 
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. – It shall be the declared policy 
of the State to promote a more advanced and efficient civil registration 
system. Towards this end, the State shall create measures in the 
standardization of civil registration and likewise provide a modernized and 
simplified system of recording vital events occurring in one’s life.  
SECTION 3. Definition of Terms – 
a. Civil Registration refers to the 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 a person’s civil status;
b. Civil Register refers to a system containing the recordings of the
civil status of persons, in which shall be entered occurrences
such as: (a) births; (b) deaths; (c) marriages; (d) annulments of
10664


marriages; (e) divorces (for Muslims); (f) legitimations; (g) 
adoptions; (h) acknowledgment of natural children; (i) 
naturalization; and (j) changes of name. 
c. Legal Instruments refers to affidavits or affirmations pertaining 
to civil registration.  
d. Artificial Insemination refers to the deliberate introduction 
of sperm into 
a 
female's cervix or uterine 
cavity to 
achieve pregnancy. 
e. Repatriation refers to the act or process of restoring or returning 
someone to the country of origin, allegiance, or citizenship. 
f. Declaration of Presumptive Death refers to a judicial declaration 
of well-founded belief that the absentee is already dead. 
SECTION 4. Coverage – This Act shall apply to all acts affecting 
the civil status of Filipinos, including Filipinos abroad.  
SECTION 5. The National Statistician. – The National Statistician 
is the head of the Philippine Statistics Authority whose duties and 
functions are the following:  
a) Enforce and administer the provisions of this Act;  
b) Exercise direct supervision over the City and Municipal Civil 
Registrars and other local civil registry officers;  
c) Formulate appropriate and necessary rules concerning civil 
registration;  
d) Examine and endorse for investigation any complaint for violation of 
this Act and all other irregularities to the respective local chief 
executive and the applicable authorized agencies; 
e) Issuance of documents under its custody;  
f) Determine applicable standard fees for the issuance, preparations, 
and other acts in relation to civil registry documents.  
SECTION 6. The City/Municipal Civil Registrar. – In accordance 
with the provisions of the Republic Act No. 7610, otherwise known as the 
Local Government Code, the appointment of the Civil/Municipal Civil 
Registrars shall be mandatory for city and municipal governments. The 
Civil/Municipal Registrar shall have the following functions:  


a) Develop plans and strategies for civil registry programs and 
projects, subject to the approval of the respective local chief 
executive;  
b) Register all registrable events within their respective local 
jurisdiction;  
c) File, accept and enter immediately upon receipt all registrable 
documents and judicial decrees/orders affecting the civil status of 
persons presented to them for entry in the appropriate civil registry 
books;  
d) Prepare and compile registrable documents and submit information 
to the National Statistician as required;  
e) Classify, digitize, bind, and preserve all registered documents 
appropriately in furtherance with the proper archiving procedures;  
f) Preserve, classify, digitize and bind all registered documents in 
accordance with the appropriate archiving procedures;  
g) Administer oaths for civil registry purposes;  
h) File, keep and preserve the books required by law;  
i) Receive applications for the issuance of a marriage license; 
j) Issue marriage licenses upon determination if requirements have 
been complied with and payment of appropriate fees;  
k) Coordinate with the National Statistician in conducting and planning 
education campaigns for civil registration and assist in the 
preparation of demographic and other statistics for the LGU 
concerned; 
l) Recommend policies and procedures on civil registration to the 
National Statistician;  
m)  Reconstruct destroyed or lost civil registry records upon 
compliance with the requirement and procedures established by the 
National Statistician;  
n) Make available at all times the civil registry forms in the 
City/Municipal Civil Registrar Office.  
SECTION 7. Civil Registry Book. – The City/Municipal Registrar 
shall keep and preserve the following books:  
a) Register of Births; 
b) Register of Foundlings; 


c) Register of Deaths;  
d) Register of Marriages;  
e) Register of Court Decrees or Orders;  
f) Register of Legal Instruments;  
g) Register of Applications of Marriage License;  
h) Register of Conversion to Islam;  
i) Register of Muslim Divorces;  
j) Register of Revocation of Muslim Divorces;  
k) Register of Indigenous Cultural Communities or Indigenous 
Peoples Marriage Dissolutions;  
l) Register of Indigenous Cultural Communities or Indigenous 
Peoples Revocation of Marriage Dissolutions; and 
m)  Register of Administrative Orders.  
 
The City/Municipal Civil Registrar shall enter the proper record 
concerning the civil status of persons in the proper book as stated above.  
SECTION 8. Registration and Certification of Birth. – The 
declaration of either the physician, the midwife, or the person who 
attended to the birth, or in the absence thereof, the declaration of either 
or both parents or any other person who has personal knowledge of the 
facts of the birth of the newborn shall be sufficient for the registration of 
birth in the civil register.  
The duly accomplished Certificate of Live Birth shall be submitted to 
the City/Municipal Civil Registrar where the birth is within thirty (30) days 
from the date of birth as stated by the person making the declaration for 
registration.  
The Certificate of Live Birth shall declare the following:  
a) Name of the child;  
b) Sex of the child; 
c) Date of birth;  
d) Place of birth;  
e) Name of the mother and father;  
f) Citizenship of the mother and father;  


g) Date of marriage of parents, if applicable;  
h) Place of marriage of parents, if applicable;  
i) Such other date as required in the regulation to be issued. 
Children who have been abandoned or foundlings whose parents 
and relatives are unknown, or those who have been committed to an 
orphanage or charitable institution and whose facts of birth and 
parentage are unknown, shall be registered with the City/Municipal Civil 
Registrar by the finder or charitable institution where the child is 
committed within thirty (30) days from the date of finding the child of the 
place where such child was born or found.  
A deceased person’s birth may also be registered on a delayed 
registration basis by the person’s nearest kin subject to the submission 
of proof of the identity of the person being registered, facts of the 
person’s birth, and other data as may be required. 
SECTION 9.  Acquisition of Certificate of Live Birth. –  The 
record of a person’s birth shall be kept strictly confidential and no 
information relating thereto shall be issued except upon the request by 
any of the following:  
a) The concerned person or any person authorized by the said person;  
b) The person’s spouse, parent/s or direct descendants, or guardian 
or institutions legally in charge of him/her, if such a person is a 
minor; 
c) The court or proper public officials, when deemed absolutely 
necessary in administrative, judicial or other official proceedings to 
determine the identity of the person’s parents or other 
circumstances surrounding his/her birth; or 
d) The nearest kin, in the case of deceased persons.  
SECTION 10. Barangay Civil Registration System. – To ease the 
burden of every City/Municipal Civil Registrar, there shall be established 
a Barangay Civil Registration System wherein barangay officials shall 
have the mandate of assisting the facilitation of civil registration within 
their area of jurisdiction, subject to the provisions of this Act.  
The implementing rules and regulations regarding the establishment 
of the Barangay Civil Registration System shall be released by the Office 


of the National Statistician within ninety (90) days from the effectivity of 
this Act.  
 
SECTION 11. Delayed Registration and Certification of Birth. –  
Local government units shall implement a delayed registration program 
for persons whose births have not been registered and certified, free of 
charge. Likewise, the Department of Interior and Local Government, in 
coordination with the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples shall 
prepare a Free Delayed Registration Program for Indigenous Peoples 
which shall be implemented by the local government units and the NCIP 
regional or local offices in the localities concerned.  
 
SECTION 12. Registration and Certification of Death. – No 
human body shall be buried unless the proper death certificate has been 
presented and recorded with the Civil/Municipal Civil Registrar.  
The physician who attended to the deceased or the health officer 
concerned or a family member of any person having knowledge of the 
death of the deceased shall report the same to the local health authorities 
who shall issue a death certificate which shall be recorded with the 
Civil/Municipal Civil Registrar. The registration of the death of a person 
shall be made within thirty (30) days from the date of death with the 
Civil/Municipal Civil Registrar of the place where the death occurred. 
 In the absence of the health officer or his authorized representative 
in the place of registration, the death should be reported within forty-eight 
(48) hours after its occurrence by the nearest kin of the deceased or by 
any person having knowledge of the death to the local chief executive or 
any member of the Sangguniang Bayan, who shall issue and sign the 
medical certification portion of the Certificate of Death for burial and 
registration purposes.  
The death certificate shall contain the following:  
a) Full name of the deceased;  
b) Sex of the deceased;  
c) Nationality;  
d) Date of death;  
e) Place of death;  
f) Cause of death; and  


g) Such other data as may be required.  
For cases where the death is under medico-legal examination or 
autopsy, or where a 
 case of death is under investigation by the 
National Bureau of Investigation or any other investigative agency in the 
government and where the body subject of examination has not been 
registered, the head of the concerned investigative agency or his/her 
authorized representative shall cause the registration of such death 
through the health officer of the city or municipality where the death 
occurred.  
SECTION 13. Application and Registration of Marriage License. 
– Applications for a marriage license and all requirements in support 
thereof shall be governed by the provisions of Executive Order No. 209, 
otherwise known as the Family Code of the Philippines, as amended.  
The local civil registrar concerned shall enter all applications for 
marriage licenses filed with him/her in a registry book strictly in the order 
in which the same are received.  
SECTION 14. Registration and Certification of Marriage. – All 
persons authorized to solemnize marriages shall send four (4) copies of 
the Certificate of Marriage for registration with the Civil/Municipal Civil 
Registrar of the place where the marriage was solemnized within fifteen 
(15) days from the date of celebration of marriage.  
For marriages exempt from the requirement of a marriage license 
as provided in accordance with the provisions of the Family Code of the 
Philippines shall have the marriage registered within thirty (30) days from 
the date of celebration of marriage.  
For those whose marriages have not been registered, the 
Civil/Municipal Civil Registrar of the place where the marriage was 
celebrated shall allow its delayed registration.  
SECTION 15. Multiple Registrations. – In cases of multiple 
registrations of birth, marriage, or death, the first duly registered document 
shall be given preference.  
In cases of multiple marriages involving the same parties, the first 
registered marriage shall prevail.  
SECTION 16. Registration of Solemnizing Officers. – All persons 
authorized to solemnize marriages shall be registered with the Office of 


the National Statistician, except as may otherwise be provided by law or 
existing rules.   
 
SECTION 17. Registration of Court Orders. – In cases of court 
issues an order concerning the status of a person, it shall be the duty of 
the clerk of court to advise the petitioner to have the order registered with 
the Civil/Municipal Civil Registrar of the place within the jurisdiction of the 
court where such petition was granted.  
Unverified copies shall not be registered. The LCRO where the 
event of the order was registered shall forward a certified true copy of the 
order to the Civil/Municipal Registrar where the event affected was 
originally registered. The latter shall make the proper annotations in the 
documents and in the applicable registry book. The LCRO shall likewise 
send a certified true copy of the annotated document and the registered 
court order to the Office of the National Statistician. Each corrected 
document shall be reported to the National Statistician during the reporting 
month.  
All court orders must be registered within fifteen (15) days after its 
finality.   Otherwise, it shall be considered as delayed registration.  
All court orders shall be effected through annotations in the civil 
registry document except in adoption cases where the child shall be 
entitled to the issuance of an amended birth certificate.  
SECTION 18. Registration of Adoption. – The Original Certificate 
of Live Birth of an adopted child shall be amended upon finality of the 
issuance of the decree of adoption by the court. An amended Certificate 
of Live Birth of the adopted child shall be issued by the Civil/Municipal 
Civil Registrar of the place where the birth of the adopted child was 
recorded. The contents of the Certificate of Live Birth of the adopted child 
shall have the same entries as those appearing in the original records of 
birth, except for the following items of information:  
a) Name of the adopted. The first name of the adopted child shall be 
the same as that contained in the original Certificate of Live Birth 
unless the decree of adoption carried with it an order of the change 
of name of the adoptee. The middle name of the adopted child shall 
be the same as the middle name of that of the adopter except in 
cases of joint adoption where the husband and wife jointly adopted 
the child. In such case, the middle name of the adopted child shall 


be the maiden name of the adopting mother. Moreover, for joint 
adoptions, the adopted child shall use the surname of the adopting 
father.  
b) Name of parents. The name of the natural parents of the adopted 
child shall be substituted by the names of the adopting parents 
whose names shall be indicated in the appropriate spaces in the 
amended Certificate of Live Birth as the father or mother, as the 
case may be; and 
c)  Other Information. Information other than those above-mentioned 
such as citizenship and religion shall be indicated in the appropriate 
spaces in the amended Certificate of Live Birth, including the date 
of marriage of the adopting parents, in cases of joint adoptions.  
In case the adopted child is a foundling the basis for issuance of an 
amended certificate of live birth shall be the court order.  
SECTION 19. Registration of Presumptive Death. – A judicial 
order declaring the presumptive death which has reached finality shall be 
registered with the Civil/Municipal Registrar of the place where the first 
marriage was registered. For annotations needed for contracting a 
subsequent marriage, the same shall be recorded in the marriage register 
as well as in the marriage certificate.  
SECTION 20. Registration of Foreign Court Orders. – Foreign 
court orders which have been confirmed by the appropriate Regional Trial 
Court having jurisdiction over such case and which involve the civil status 
of persons residing in the Philippines shall be registered before the Local 
Civil Registry Office where the affected document is registered. 
SECTION 21. Registration of Legal Instruments. – As a general 
rule, all legal instruments shall be registered in the civil registry of the 
place where such instrument was executed. Except for the following:  
a) Affidavit of Reappearance. An Affidavit of Reappearance shall 
be registered in the place where the parties to the subsequent 
marriage are residing;  
b) Marriage 
Settlement. 
Marriage 
Settlements 
shall 
be 
registered in the place where the affected marriage was 
recorded;  
c) Admission of Paternity, Acknowledgment, Legitimation, 
Voluntary Emancipation of Minor and Artificial Insemination. 


The following legal instruments shall be recorded in the place 
where the birth of the child was recorded. 
d) Legal Instruments executed abroad. All legal instruments shall 
be registered in the Office of Civil Registry in Manila, including 
all legal instruments which try may be executed in the 
Philippines if the vital events referred to occurred in the foreign 
country and have been registered with the Philippine 
Consulate.  
 
All legal instruments shall be effected through annotation in the civil 
registry document.  
SECTION 22. Registration of Affidavit of Reappearance. – A 
sworn statement of the facts and circumstances surrounding the 
reappearance of a person previously declared presumptively dead shall 
be recorded in the civil registry office of the residence of the parties to the 
subsequent marriage, with due notice to the spouses of the subsequent 
marriage and without prejudice to the fact of reappearance being judicially 
determined in case such  
SECTION 23. Registration of Affidavit of Acknowledgement or 
Affidavit of Admission of Paternity. – It shall be the duty of the person 
executing the affidavit of acknowledgment or admission of paternity to 
send the original copy of the affidavit to the City/Municipal Civil Registrar 
where the birth of the child was registered, for registration in the Register 
of Legal Instruments and proper annotation in the Register of Births.  
SECTION 24. Ratification of Artificial Insemination. – Children 
conceived as a result of artificial insemination shall be considered 
legitimate; Provided, That both of them ratified such insemination in a 
written instrument executed and signed by both of them before the birth 
of the child. The instrument shall be recorded in the civil register together 
with the Certificate of Live Birth of the child.  
SECTION 25. Option to Elect Philippine Citizenship. –  The 
option to elect Philippine citizenship in accordance with Section 3, Article 
IV of the Philippine Constitution shall be made in an affidavit signed by the 
party concerned and sword before an officer authorized to administer 
oaths. The same instrument shall be filed and registered with the 
Civil/Municipal Registrar of the place where the instrument was executed.  


For instruments executed, subscribed, and sworn to before a 
consular officer of the Philippine Embassy in a foreign country, together 
with the oath of allegiance, shall be registered with the Local Civil Registry 
Office of Manila.  
SECTION 26. Registration of Repatriation. – The instrument of 
repatriation and oath of allegiance to the Constitution and the government 
of the Philippines shall be filed with the Civil/Municipal Civil Registrar of 
the place where the instrument was executed; Provided, That if the for 
Philippine citizenships reacquired by naturalization, the court order 
granting the citizenship shall be recorded and registered in the Register 
of Court Orders.  
SECTION 27. Registration of Muslim Filipinos, Indigenous 
Cultural Communities (ICCs) or Indigenous Peoples (Ips), and 
Children in Need of Special Protection (CNSP). – The Philippine 
Statistics Authority, in coordination with the National Commission on 
Indigenous Peoples, the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, 
Philippine Association of Civil Registrars, the National Commission on 
Culture and the Arts, and duly recognized elders and leaders of 
Indigenous Peoples, shall establish an Indigenous Peoples Civil 
Registration System which shall abide by the sensitive and appropriate 
unique cultural practices and identification systems of Indigenous 
Peoples.  
Indigenous Peoples shall be exempt from the payment of all fees in 
the recording of their birth, marriage, and death. Such exemption shall 
extend to any fine or fee for late registration as well. Likewise, they shall 
be exempted from the payment of notarial fees and documentary stamp 
tax in cases of registration of instruments requiring the execution of 
affidavits.  
SECTION 28. Registration of Children in Need of Special 
Protection and Foundlings. – The Philippine Statistics Authority, the 
Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of 
Interior and Local Government, and the Philippine Association of Civil 
Registrars shall establish an appropriate and cohesive civil registration of 
Children in Need of Special Protection and Foundlings within thirty (30) 
days from the effectivity of this Act and in line with the principles set forth 
in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.  


SECTION 29. Nature of Civil Registry Documents. – The registry 
books making up the civil register and all documents relating thereto shall 
be considered public documents and shall be prima facie evidence of the 
truth of the facts therein contained. They shall be open to the public during 
office hours and shall be kept in a secured place that shall be furnished to 
the civil registrar at the expense of the city/municipality concerned.  
The civil registrar shall not, under any circumstances, permit any 
document registered to be removed from the office except upon lawful 
order of the court. The city/municipal civil registrar may issue certified 
copies of any documents filed upon payment of proper fees fixed by the 
appropriate city/municipal ordinance.  
SECTION 30. Expenses of the Civil Registrar and Appropriate 
Fees. – All expenses in connection with the establishment and operations 
of the civil registrar’s office shall be obtained out of the funds of the local 
government unit concerned and for this purpose, the Sanggunian of the 
municipalities or cities shall make the necessary appropriation.  
Registration of births, foundlings, deaths, and marriages shall be 
free of charge. However, for all other legal instruments, a standard fee 
shall be collected. For  the issuance of copies of civil registry documents, 
a standard fee shall be collected.  
SECTION 31. False Statements. –  Any person who shall 
knowingly make false statements in the furnished forms and present the 
same for entry in the civil registers shall be penalized in accordance with 
the law.  
SECTION 32. Failure to Report and other Violations. – Any 
person duty-bound to report any fact concerning the civil status of persons 
and who fails to perform such duty without any justifiable reason, or any 
person found to be in violation of the provisions of this Act shall be 
punished accordingly.  
Any violation of the preceding sections shall be penalized by 
imprisonment of not exceeding one (1) year or a fine ranging from 
TWENTY THOUSAND PESOS (Php20,000.00) to THIRTY THOUSAND 
PESOS (Php30,000.00), or both, at the discretion of the court.  
The attending physician, nurse, midwife, hospital administrator, or 
any person in charge of the certificate of live birth or a certificate of death 
or any other necessary documents who fails to deliver or withholds the 
delivery of said documents without any justifiable reason shall be 


penalized by imprisonment of not more than six (6) months or a fine 
ranging from TWENTY THOUSAND PESOS (Php20,000.00) to THIRTY 
THOUSAND PESOS (Php30,000.00), or both, at the discretion of the 
court. Non-payment of hospital bills, in full or in part, shall not be a ground 
for the non-delivery or the withholding of the Certificate of Live Birth or the 
Certificate of Death of the person concerned.  
Any officer, priest, or minister who solemnizes a marriage without 
being authorized to do so; or upon solemnizing a marriage, refuses to 
exhibit his authorization when called upon to do so by the parties, their 
parents or guardians; or solemnizes a marriage which is subsequently 
declared void by his/her religion, church, or sect, due to failure to comply 
with the requirements as a pre-requisite to the solemnization of marriage; 
or solemnizes a marriage in violation of the provisions of this Act, shall be 
punished with imprisonment ranging from six (6) months to three (3) 
years, or the revocation of authority to solemnize a marriage or a fine 
ranging from TWENTY THOUSAND PESOS (Php20,000.00) to THIRTY 
THOUSAND PESOS (Php30,000.00), or all three penalties, at the 
discretion of the court. 
Any officer, priest or minister who fails to deliver copies of the 
certificate of marriage to the City/Municipal Civil Registrar within the 
period fixed by law and without justifiable reason shall be punished by 
imprisonment of not more than six (6) months, or by a fine of not more 
than TEN THOUSAND PESOS (Php10,000.00), or both at the discretion 
of the court.  
SECTION 33.  Mandatory Review. – The provisions of this Act shall 
undergo a mandatory review by Congress every ten (10) years counted 
from the time of the effectivity of this Act.  
SECTION 34.  Retroactive Effect. – The provisions of this Act shall 
have a retroactive effect insofar as it does not prejudice or impair vested 
rights. 
SECTION 35.  Separability Clause. – If any provision of this Act is 
declared invalid or unconstitutional, the other provisions not affected 
thereby shall remain valid and subsisting.  
SECTION 36. Repealing Clause. – All acts, executive orders, 
memorandum circulars/guidelines, and other issuances or parts thereof, 


which are inconsistent with this Act, are hereby repealed or modified 
accordingly.  
SECTION 37. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) 
days after its publication in the Official Gazette or two (2) newspapers of 
general circulation 
 
 
 
 
 
APPROVED.