Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Batasan Hills, Quezon City

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House pitino, 1274

Introduced by:

Gabriela Women’s Party Reps, LUZVIMINDA C. LAGAN and EMMI A. DE JESUS, Bayan Muna Reps. NERI J.
COLMENARES and CARLOS T. ZARATE, ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. ANTONIO L. TINIO,
‘Anakpawis Rep. FERNANDO HICAP and Kabataan Party List Rep. TERRY L. RIDON
and Reps. TEDDY B. BAGUILAT JR., and MEL SENEN S. SARMIENTO.

EXPLANATORY NOTE
This bill is premised on the following:

1) More than 60 % of our Indigenous Peoples are unrecorded in our civil registry.

2) They have been discouraged to register their biographical milestones (birth, marriage and death)
because they find the prevailing registration system as financially prohibitive and ‘not friendly’ to
their unique ways, tradition and culture. For example, our IPs follow a different system for naming
members of their tribe or community. Many still use the single cognomen while the prevailing
registration system is designed for the dominant Christianized population (replete with a first name,
middle name and last name). Another example, civil registration forms have a space for religion but
none for ethnicity which is a factor why this country has no accurate data on our IP population. In
addition, marriage in many tribal communities does not have the effect of the wife being legally
compelled to use her husband's surname.

Theoretically, people who are not recorded in the civil registry do not exist in contemplation of law
and may come under the international category of ‘stateless persons’.

Unregistered, many IPs, their wives and children have been deprived of certain social services.
For example, their children are refused school enrolment because they cannot produce the
required birth certificate.

The deprivation of social services because of non-registration aggravates the ethnic discrimination
of our IPs.

3)

4

§)

For these reasons, this bill aims to institute a civil registration system for IPs that is free and sensitive to
their unique ways, tradition and culture. It has the following main features:

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1) Itprovides for a civil registration system that is free from any chargelfines for IPs;
2) Itprovides for a civil registration system that is sensitive to the unique ways, tradition and culture of
IPs, In particular, it recognizes and respects their system of naming their members, recognizes the
conclusive legal effect of their tribal authorities and elders in officiating marriages and dissolving
marriages, and recognizes their elders/ tribal doctorsimidwives as reportorial authorities in cases of
birth and death of IPs;

It mandates the NSO to redesign its civil registry forms in order to achieve the objectives of this Act
but harmonized with existing laws and systems in civil registy; and

It provides for penalties for specified violations of the provisions of this bill

3)

4)

This bill is formerly the House Bill No. 6419 (Committee Report No. 2279) submitted on July 30, 2012 to the
‘Speaker of the House of Representatives by the Committee on National Cultural Communities of the 15"
Congress. It was the substitute bill for House Bill 4701 (authored by Reps. Rufus Rodriguez, Maximo.
Rodriguez, Catalina Bagasina, Lani Mercado-Revilla, and Nancy Catamco) and House Bill 5184 (authored
by Reps. Emmi De Jesus, Teddy Baguilat, Mel Senen Sarmiento, Maricar Zamora-Apsay and the
undersigned Luzviminda C. llagan), Before it became a substitute bill, it had undergone extensive
deliberation at the committee level which included a regional consultation with IP constituencies in Kalinga,
Apayao.

Itis humbly requested that this bill be considered a priority and passed without delay.

we ae
IZ¥WMINDA C. ILAGAN

Gabriela Women’s Party

Loe

EMMI A. DE JESUS NERI J. COLMENARES
Gabriela Women’s Party Bayan Muna
Fado Beate) — ra es
Bayan Muna ACT Teachers Party List
fete 'Y L. RIDON
\nakpawi: Kabataan Party List

TEDDY B. BAGUILAT, Jr. MEL arcu SARMIENTO
Lone District, Ifugao 415" District, Western Samar

PageZ


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Batasan Hills, Quezon City

‘SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. _ 127 4

Introduced by: Gabriela Women's Party Reps, LUZVIMINDA C. ILAGAN and EMMI A. DE JESUS

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

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title.- This Act shall be known as the "Free and Culture-Sensitive

Indigenous Peoples Civil Registration System Act of 2013."

SEC. 2. Coverage This Act shall apply to all 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 homogeneous 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

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such territories, sharing common bonds of language, through resistance to political, social and
cultural inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions and cultures, became historically
differentiated from the majority of Filipinos. The IPs shall likewise 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 cultures, 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 for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), Philippine Association of Civil Registrars, National
Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and distinguished anthropologists and selected
elders and leaders of IPs, shall establish an Indigenous Peoples Civil Registration System
(IPCRS) that is sensitive and appropriate to the unique cultural practices and identification
systems of 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
TPCRS, 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

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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 TPs 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

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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
personal 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 tribal leader or elder shall be conclusive upon the LCR.

The dissolution of marriage 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

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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 registration. 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, marriage 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 concerned 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 parents or parent 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, parents or parent so desires, the chosen

Christian, Muslim or non-IP name which shall serve as the "also-known-as" name of the child.

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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, conyentions and treaties to which it
is a party, LCRs and concerned local government units 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 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 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 local government units shall conduct

information and education campaigns to encourage IPs to avail of or participate in the PCRS.

SEC. 17. Punishable Acts.- The following acts are prohibited and punishable under this

Act:

1. Collection of fees, fines or penalties in cash or in kind by any government employee
or official or by any person in connection with the civil registration of birth, marriage or death of

BPs,

2. Inducing IPs to pay in cash or in kind in order to be able to register a birth, marriage

or death;

3. Misrepresenting oneself as a tribal leader or elder or tribal doctor or midwife of an

indigenous community.

4. Misrepresenting oneself as a member of an indigenous community.

a)


SEC. 18. Penalties.- The prohibited acts enumerated in the preceding paragraph shall be

punished in the following manner

1. For the prohibited act mentioned in paragraph 1, a fine of Five Thousand Pesos

(P5,000.00) and imprisonment of six (6) months;

2. For the prohibited act mentioned in paragraph 2, a fine of Two Thousand Pesos

(2,000.00) and imprisonment of three (3) months; and

3. For the prohibited acts mentioned in paragraphs 3 and 4, imprisonment of one 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

or invalid, the remaining portions not affected thereby shall continue to have force and effect.

SEC. 21. Repealing Clause.- Act No. 3753 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 newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines

Approved,

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