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

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Introduced by Representative Rufus 8, Rodriguez and
Representative Maximo B. Rodriguez, Jr.

House Bill No.__1969

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill was originally introduced as House Bill No. 4701 by the undersigned
Rufus B. Rodriguez 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 million 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 International 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outdated, being based on the 1996 listings of the defunct Offices of the Southern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 Northern Cultural Communities. These discrepancies are
not only due to classification limitations, or other factors, but also because some
indigenous peoples have difficulties 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 birth 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.

itis in this ight that the immediate passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

RUFUYB. RO!

MAXiff0 B. RODRIGUEZ, JR.


SIXTEENTH CONGRESS: )
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES )
FIRST REGULAR SESSION )

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Introduced by Representative Rufus B, Rodriguez and
Representative Maximo B. Rodriguez, Jr.

House Bill No__ 1969

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 the 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 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 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. _Culturaily-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 Aris
(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 cf


issuing separate forms for the PCRS, 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
Tequires 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
martiage 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 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
physicfan


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
scription 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 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 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 concemed local
government 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
participate in the IPCRS.

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

(a) Collection of fees, fines or penalties in cash or in kind by any government
official or employee or by any person in connection with the civil registration of birth,
marriage 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

(@) 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 (8) 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. — Separabilily 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.
Alll 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,