‘SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS )
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES )
FIRST REGULAR SESSION )

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Introduced by Representative Maximo B, Rodriguez, Jr.

House sillNo, 4545,

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill was originally introduced as House*Bil'No, 4701 during the 15" Congress
where it was approved by the Committee on National Cultural Communities and substituted
with House Bill No, 6419. It was subsequently approved on 2” reading, approved on 3”
reading and was transmitted to the Senate where it was not acted upon

‘As of 2009, the estimated population of the Philippines is 92,226,600 people.
Various studies place the number of ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines at over 100,
making the country one of the most ethnically diverse in Asia. The 2000 Philippine Census
estimates 6.3 milion Indigenous Peoples (IPs) belonging to 85 ethnolinguistic group. The
National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) however, has different data sets based
on “unofficial surveys’ of population by ethnographic region. An Intemational Labor
Organization publication for instance cites NCIP data estimating the number of IPs at 13.5
million. This information is also outdated, being based on the 1996 listings of the defunct
Offices of the Southern Cultural Communities and Norther Cultural Communities. These
discrepancies are not only due to classification limitations, or other factors, but also because
some indigenous peoples have difficuies in registering marriages, births, or deaths. It
therefore becomes apparent that many IPs are not registered, Without a legal birth record,
an individual does not officially exist and therefore lacks legal access to the privileges and
protection of a nation,

Birth registration is not generally known among disadvantaged Filipinos particularly
in Indigenous Peoples and underprivileged families with children in need of special
protection. Among these groups, birth registration remains insignificant. Many of them
Understand the implications of non-registration only when they get to experience problems in
transactions requiring proofs of name, age or nationality.

This lack of bitth registration is often caused by the fact that many of these IPs are
indigent and lack the necessary finances to be able to register. There is thus a need to
encourage these IPs into registering in order for the State to afford them the necessary
protection they deserve

‘tis in this light that the immediate passage of this bill is eamestly sought.

Me

MAXIMO B. RODRIGUEZ, JR.


SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS )
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES )
FIRST REGULAR SESSION )

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Introduced by Representative Maximo B. Rodriguez, Jr.

4545,

AN ACT

PROVIDING FOR A FREE AND CULTURE-SENSITIVE SYSTEM OF REGISTRATION
CONCERNING THE CIVIL STATUS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES

House Bill No.

nf

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress Assembled,

SECTION1. Short Title. ~ This Act shall be known as the “Free and Culture-Sensitive
Indigenous Peoples Civil Registration System Act’.

SEC.2, Coverage, - This Act shall apply to alll indigenous peoples (IPs) defined in
Section 3 hereof, regardless of their present religion, including those who have converted to
Islam,

SEC. 3. Definition of indigenous Peoples. - Indigenous Peoples refer to a group of people
‘or homogenous societies identified by self-ascription and ascription by others, who have
continuously lived as organized community on communally bounded and defined territory,
and who have, under claims of ownership since time immemorial, occupied, possessed and
utilized such territories, sharing common bonds of language, through resistance to political,
social and cutural inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions and cultures, became
historically differentiated from the majority of Filipinos. The IPs shall ikewise include
peoples who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the populations
which inhabited the country, at the time of conquest or colonization, or at the time of inroads
of non-indigenous religions and cutures, of the establishment of present state boundaries,
who retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, but
who may have been displaced from their traditional domains or who may have resettled
outside their ancestral domains.

SEC. 4. Culturally-sensitive Civil Registration System. - Within one (1) month from the
effectivity of this Act, the National Statistics Office (NSO), in collaboration with the National
Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the Philippine Association of Civil Registrars
the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and distinguished anthropologists
and selected elders and leaders of the IPs, shall establish an Indigenous Peoples Civil
Registration System (IPCRS) that is sensitive and appropriate to the unique cultural
practices and identification systems of the IPs: Provided, That the IPCRS shall be
harmonized with existing laws and systems on civil registry

SEC.5. Ethnicity Details in the Civil Registry Documents. - The IPCRS shall take into
account the various ethnic affiliations of the IPs in the country. For this purpose, the NSO
Administrator, acting as the Civil Registrar General, instead of issuing separate forms for the
IPCRS, shall cause the amendment of the existing civil registry forms, for uniformity of all
civil registry documents to ensure acceptability by end-user agencies or institutions of the


facts and information contained in said documents and ease of establishing filial bonds
between or among parent or parents and child.

SEC.6. Free Civil Registration for Indigenous Peoples. ~ Any provision of law to the
contrary notwithstanding, IPs shall be exempted from the payment of all fees in connection
with the recording of their birth, marriage and death at the Local Civil Registry Office and
such exemption shall extend to any fine or fee for late registration. They are likewise
exempted from the payment of notarial fees and documentary stamp tax in cases where the
recording of the birth, marriage or death requires the execution of affidavits or sworn
statements and similar documents.

SEC.7. Report of Birth by the Parents or Tribal Doctor or Tribal Midwife Conclusive
Upon the Local Civil Registrar. — In recording the birth of IPs delivered in the traditional
customs and practices of the indigenous community, the report as to the circumstances of
the birth by any of the parents or by the tribal doctor or tribal midwife who attended to the
delivery shall be conclusive upon the Local Civil Registrar (LCR) without need for further
proof. The procedures and requirements set forth in Section 5 of Act No, 3753, or
the Civil Registry Law, shall apply only in cases where the child was delivered in a hospital
or birthing center and was attended to by a physician or midwife.

SEC. 8. Report of Marriage Performed in Accordance with Customary Indigenous Laws
and Practices and Dissolution of Marriage. - The report of marriage among and between
IPs solemnized in accordance with customary laws, rites, traditions and practices by the
person duly authorized to perform the ritual or ceremony and by the parties to the marriage
shall be conclusive upon the LCR without need for further proof, For this purpose, the NCIP
shall submit to the NSO a list of IPs recognized by each indigenous community to solemnize
marriage according to its customary laws or practices. The NSO shall issue a Certificate of
Registration of Authority to Solemnize Marriage (CRASM) to such IPs for free

In the case of indigenous communities whose traditional marriage ceremony does not
require the presence of a solemnizing officer, as determined by the NCIP, the report by the
contracting parties shall be conclusive upon the LCR without need for further proof except
personel confirmation, orally or in writing, by any of the parents or by a tribal leader or elder
of the indigenous community to which any of the spouses belongs. For this purpose, the
NCIP shall furnish the NSO and the LCRs with a list of indigenous communities falling under
this paragraph: Provided, That pending the submission of such list, the oral or written
confirmation of the triba| leader or elder shall be conclusive upon the LCR.

The dissolution of mariage of IPs following customary indigenous laws and practices
shall be directly recorded with the LCR without need of court intervention: Provided, That
such facts and information shall be confirmed orally or in writing by a tribal leader or elder of
the indigenous community to which any of the spouses belongs.

SEC.9. Report of Death by Any Member of the Family or by a Tribal Doctor. - The
report as to the circumstances of death of IPs by any member of the family of the deceased
or by the tribal doctor in attendance during such death shall likewise be conclusive on the
LCR without need of further proof. Section 6 of Act No. 3753 shall apply only when the
death happened in a hospital and was attended to by a physician.

SEC.10. Exemption from the Prescribed Period for Reporting. - All rules and
regulations, orders and circulars which prescribe a period for reporting to the LCR the birth,
marriage or death of any person shall not apply to the IPs.

SEC.11. Establishing the Membership of a Person to an Indigenous Community. — In
the absence of any identifying document, the self-ascription or ascription by any of the
parents or tribal leader or elder shall suffice to establish the identity of IPs when applying
with the LCR for recording birth, marriage or death,


SEC. 12. Establishing Facts and information About the Personal Circumstances of IPs
in Late Registation. — In late registration, the narration of facts and information made by
IPs regarding personal circumstances, such as name, name of parent or parents, or date
and place of birth, shall be conclusive upon the LCR without need of execution of an
affidavit: Provided, That such facts and information shall be confirmed personally by any of
the parents or by a tribal leader or elder of the indigenous community to which the applicant
belongs. The confirmation may be oral or written

SEC.13. Roster of Tribal Leaders and Elders and Medicine Men and Women. ~ To
facilitate the verification of reports of birth, mariage and death made or filed by IPs, the
LCRs, in coordination with the NCIP, shall keep and continually update a roster of IPs who
are authorized or recognized by the indigenous community concemed to solemnize
marriage in accordance with customary laws or practices, including the tribal leaders or
elders and medicine men or women of the IPs in their respective areas of jurisdiction. A
compilation of such rosters shall be kept in the central office and in the regional and
provincial offices of the NCIP.

SEC.14. Registration of Tribal Name as Official Name. ~ in the registration of birth, the
LCR shall register the name, regardless of form, such as a single name only without middle
or family name, preferred by IPs or by the parent or parents of the child, For those whose
parent or parents had been Christianized or had converted to Islam or other religions, the
LCR shall also indicate in the birth registration form, if the applicant, parent or parents so
desire, the chosen Christian, Muslim or non-IP name which shall serve as the ‘also-known-
as” name of the child,

SEC.15. Registration Campaign for IPs. — Within two (2) years upon the effectivity of
this Act, in compliance with the country’s obligations under the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of Children and such other international protocols, conventions and treaties to
which it is a party, LCRs and concerned local govemment units (LGUs) shall conduct within
their areas of jurisdiction, in coordination with the NCIP, periodic civil registration campaigns
targeting the IPs in far-flung communities, The NSO and the NCIP shall extend
administrative and technical assistance in the conduct of mobile registration campaigns for
the IPs.

SEC. 16. information and Education Campaigns. ~ The NSO and the NCIP, in
coordination with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), other
agencies of the national government and the civil registry offices of LGUs shall conduct
information and education campaigns to encourage IPs to avail of or patticipate in the
IPCRS

SEC.17. — Punishable Acts. ~ The following acts are prohibited and punishable under this
Act:

(@) Collection of fees, fines or penalties in cash or in kind by any goverment official or
employee or by any person in connection with the civil registration of birth, mariage or
death of IPs;

(b) Inducing IPs to pay in cash or in kind in order to be able to register a birth,
marriage or death:

(©) Misrepresenting oneself as a tribal leader or elder or tribal doctor or midwife of an
indigenous community; and

(d) Misrepresenting oneself as a member of an indigenous community,

SEC.18. Penalties. — The prohibited acts enumerated in the preceding paragraph shall
be punished in the following manner:


(a) For the prohibited act mentioned in Section 17(a) hereof, a fine of Five thousand
pesos (P5,000.00) and imprisonment of six (6) months;

(b) For the prohibited act mentioned in Section 17(b) hereof, a fine of Two thousand
pesos (P2,000.00) and imprisonment of three (3) months; and

(©) For the prohibited acts mentioned in Section 17(c) and Section 17(d) hereof, an
imprisonment of one (1) year.

SEC. 19. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within sixty (60) days after the
effectivity of this Act, the NSO shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the
implementation of this Act.

SEC. 20. — Separability Clause. — If any portion of this Act is declared as unconstitutional
cor invalid, the remaining portions not affected thereby shall continue to have force and
effect.

SEC.21. Repealing Clause, — Act No. 373 is hereby amended and modified, All

other laws, orders, issuances, rules and regulations which are inconsistent with this Act are
hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC.22, _Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general circulation in the
Philippines

Approved,