BAGUIO CITY – The city’s Local Civil Registry office reported some 4,716 live births documented by the said office from January to June this year, 7.78 percent lower compared to the recorded 5,114 live births during the same period last year.
Local Civil Registrar Sylvia Laudencia claimed 52.23 percent of the recorded live births this year were males while 47.77 percent were females.
Ironically, she disclosed that 47.65 percent of this year’s live births were said to be illegitimate which is much higher compared to the 47.03 percent illegitimate children recorded during the same period last year.
On the other hand, the Local Registry Office recorded 1,477 deaths during the first semester of this year which was 11.56 percent higher compared to the 1,324 reported deaths during the same period last year.
In terms of marriages, Laudencia stated their office registered 1,072 marriages this year which was 0.75 percent higher compared to the 1,064 marriages documented by the same office during the same period last year.
According to her, the Local Registry Office collected some P1.9 million from fees collected from their clients duly receipted and remitted to the coffers of the city government.
She announced the Local Civil Registry is currently digitizing the transactions in the said office pursuant to the mandate of the Mayor to ensure the speedy issuance of the desired documents.
Laudencia disclosed that birth certificates from 1945 to present, death certificates from 1973 to present and marriage certificates are in the process of being scanned in preparation for the issuance of a digitized copy of the same to prospective clients next year as the scanning of the available documents will be completed probably by the end of the year.
Laudencia called on the members of the City Council to act on their long pending request to increase the fees being charged by their office to their clients as Baguio has the lowest civil registry fees compared to the same fees being charged by the nearby local governments.
The local civil registrar stipulated that once all the pending documents shall have been scanned by their office, their clients can get copies of their birth certificates, marriage certificates and death certificates of their love ones similar to what is being currently issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) so that they will be able to see their signatures, the signatures of their parents and their witnesses.
She urged the public to continue patronizing the services of their office as the staff will readily attend to their queries and requests for the issuance of documents from their office located near the City Health Services in Teodora Alonzo barangay.
By Dexter A. See
