PSA aims increase in registration
THE Philippine Statistics Authority reported a total of 25,477 documents for Baguio City and Benguet comprised of birth, marriage and death documents.
For 2017 Benguet recorded 11,340 documents while 14,137 documents for Baguio City.
"In all documents it’s not really 100 percent for some reasons of which we cannot control it is really the responsibility of the individual to register," said PSA-Benguet Chief Statistical Specialist Imelda Buyuccan.
The PSA aims to conduct activities on awareness on the importance of having 100 percent civil registration in the province.
Civil registry is a continuous, permanent and compulsory recording of vital events in the life of an individual as birth, marriage and death, as well as all court decrees and legal instruments affecting his civil status in appropriate registers.
National Commission Indigenous People-Benguet Legal Officer Severino Lumiqued said they must consider plans in the future on how to face undocumented civil registry of Indigenous Peoples in the province with the agencies concern, the LCR’s, PSA and NCIP, "I hope this things will materialize because there's a pending Office of the Civil Registry General memorandum with NCIP which is not yet final."
Lumiqued added a Joint memorandum on IP's in 2004 for joint administrative order of the office civil registrat general and the NCIP have been seen that will govern the registration of IP births, marriage , and death however both
Buyuccan and Lumiqued manifested foregoing problems have delayed its implementation.
Now, the foregoing concern of the PSA and NCIP is on the registration of documents. "If this IP's will not have these documents they will not have their benefits," said Lumiqued.
An interface meeting between civil registrars in the province will be conducted in March together with the NCIP to discuss matters on the undocumented registration of IP's.
Benguet, which comprised 95 to 99 percent of IP's composed of main tribal, groups Ibaloi, Calanguya and Kankana-eys.
Lumiqued said with the 100 percent of civil registration at least the IP's will not have problems of their transactions which include migration and claiming of their benefits, including that of the application of ancestral land titles.