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

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 4649

Introduced by
REPS, ARLENE D. BROSAS and EMMI A, DE JESUS (Gabriela Women’s Party)
CARLOS ISAGANI T, ZARATE (Bayan Muna), ANTONIO L, TINIO and FRANCE L.
CASTRO (ACT Teachers Partylist), ARIEL B. CASILAO (Anakpawis Partylist), and
SARAH JANE I. ELAGO (Kabataan Partylist)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill proposing a free and culture sensitive registration system for indigenous peoples
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
system of registration 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
compelied to use her husband’s surname.

3) 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’,

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

5) ‘The deprivation of social services of non-registration aggravates the ethnic
discrimination of our IPs.

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:

1) It provides for a civil registration system that is free from any charge/fines for IPs;

2) It provides 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 doctors/midwives as reportorial authorities in cases
of birth and death of IPs;

3) It mandates the Philippine Statistics Authority to redesign its civil registry forms in
order to achieve the objectives of this Act but harmonized with existing laws and
systems in civil registry; and

4) It provides for penalties for specified violations of the provisions of this bill.



Gabriela Women’s Party filed this proposal for a free and culture sensitive registration
system in the 15% and 16 Congresses, and the Committee on Indigenous Cultural
Communities and Indigenous Peoples has conducted extensive deliberations, which
included a regional consultation with IP communities. This proposed measure is the
consolidated version of various measures filed in the 16" Congress.

It is humbly sought that the passage of this bill be considered a priority and passed
without delay.

VAS cs Hewat
AJ NE D. BROSAS E J) is

GabrielaWomen’s Party Gabriela Womers Party
cadhen There ANTONIO L. TINIO
Bayan Muna Paitylist ACT Teachers Partylist
FRANCE L, CASTRO ARIEL B. CASILAO
ACT Teachers Partylist Anakpawis Partylist

SARAH JANE I. ELAGO
Kabataan Partylist


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

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

4649

HOUSE BILL NO.

Introduced by
REPS. ARLENE D. BROSAS and EMMI A. DE JESUS (Gabriela Women’s Party)
CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE (Bayan Muna), ANTONIO L. TINIO and FRANCE L.
CASTRO (ACT Teachers Partylist), ARIEL B. CASILAO (Anakpawis Partylist), and
SARAH JANE I, ELAGO (Kabataan Partylist)

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 Philippin,
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title.- This Act shall be known as the "Free and Culture-Sensitive
Indigenous Peoples Civil Registration System Act of 2012

SECTION. 2. Coverage. ‘This Act shall apply to all indigenous peoples (IPs) defined in
n 3 hereof, regardless of their present religion, including those who have converted
to Islam, R

SECTION. 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 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.

SECTION. 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.

SECTION. 8. 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

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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 case of
establishing filial bonds between or among parent or parents and child

SECTION. 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
try 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.

SECTION. 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,

SECTION. 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 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
hall be directly recorded with the LCR without need of court intervention: Provided, That
uch 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

SECTION. 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  likewis
conclusive on the LCR without need of further proof. Section 6 of Act No. 3753
apply only when the death happened in a hospital and was attended to by a physician.

SECTION. 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.

SECTION. 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.

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SECTION. 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.

SECTION. 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.

SECTION. 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.

SECTION. 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 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.

SECTION. 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 IPCRS.

SECTION. 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 IPs;
2. Inducing IPs to pay in cash or in kind in order to be able to register a bi
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.

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SECTION. 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
{P8,000.00) and imprisonment of six (6) months;
2. For the prohibited act mentioned in paragraph 2, a fine of Two Thousand Pesos
(P2,000.00) and imprisonment of three (3) months; and
3. For the prohibited acts mentioned in paragraphs 3 and 4, imprisonment of one
year.



SECTION. 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

SECTION. 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

d. All
Act

SECTION. 21. Repeating Clause.- Act No. 3753 is hereby amended and modifi
other laws, orders, issuances, rules and regulations which are inconsistent with thi
are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION. 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,