LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – To be able to record births and marriages in the villages at the 13 municipalities in Benguet province, especially in far-flung areas, the Philippine Statistics Authority–Benguet Statistical Service Office will revitalize its efforts by going straight to the barangays.
Imelda Buyuccan, chief statistical specialist of Benguet, in a press conference on Friday, said the effort is part of this year’s Civil Registration Month (CRM), which highlights the importance of having an up-to-date and accurate civil registration and vital statistics.
The Benguet statistical office also has jurisdiction over Baguio City.
Buyuccan said registration of vital statistics like birth, marriage, is vital in the formulation and implementation of government programs that are aimed at improving the lives of the people in the province, Baguio, and the Filipinos in general.
Buyuccan said mobile registration teams from the different local civil registrar’s offices in the 13 municipalities of the province, as well as teams from Baguio, will go the communities to conduct the activity.
“Teams from the local municipal registrar’s office will be going out to the communities to register those who are unregistered,” said Buyuccan, adding that the activity is in cooperation with barangay officials.
The PSA senior official noted that a big number of the members of the Indigenous Peoples (IP) in the province are not registered in the PSA.
Buyuccan described it as “a great concern,” thus, the need to boost governments efforts to have them listed, so they could get the benefits of being registered Filipinos.
In observance of the CRM, the PSA-Benguet has also lined up other activities that have to do with the love month, like giving training to those officiating marriage rites, so they could get official certifications and make the ceremonies they conduct legitimate.
There will also be information dissemination activities, such symposia for government agencies, schools, and barangays.
Part of its massive information campaign program is a poster and slogan contest to promote the importance of civil registration and vital statistics.
There will also be trainings and lectures for the city and Benguet municipal civil registrars on civil registration and how to properly fill up the revised civil registry forms, including public and private hospital records.
The training is for civil registration officers to improve the processing of civil registration records. PNA-northboundasia.com