Every Filipino birth must be registered for protection

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Grace Poe is pressing for the immediate passage of the bill that seeks the timely registration of vulnerable Filipino children to assure them of recognition and protection from the government.

Senate Bill 332 or the Children in Need of Special Protection (CNSP) Birth Registration Act, which she filed, seeks to provide an enhanced framework for the prompt birth registration of vulnerable Filipino children to guarantee their rights.

“Birth registration is the first crucial step in establishing one’s legal identity and entitlement to state benefits,” the senator said.

The bill defines CNSP as persons below 18 or even 18 and older but unable to care for themselves due to physical or mental disability; or who are vulnerable to or victims of abuse, neglect, exploitation, cruelty, discrimination, violence, natural calamities, man-made disasters and other analogous conditions prejudicial to their development.

CNSP include but are not limited to children who are sexually/physically abused, in situations of armed conflict, displaced, victims of child labor, street children and foundlings. 

“Non-registration of children makes them invisible to the developmental radar of the state, which must include them in priority initiatives on health, nutrition, education and protection,” Poe said.

The measure gives authority to a licensed social worker or persons/institutions with protective custody of the child to register him or her in the Local Civil Registry Office where the child was born or found.

It also mandates the registration to be carried out within 60 days from date of actual custody, except during armed conflicts or disasters, in which case it shall be made 60 days after the pronouncement of cessation of such situations.

According to the Philippine Statistics Office, five million Filipinos nationwide were unregistered as of 2019. Of the figure, 40 percent were minors between 0 and 14.

“Guaranteeing our children’s right to have a legal name is giving them justice and an environment that is conducive to their growth and development. We must not be remiss in this foremost duty,” Poe stressed.