The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) should clear the air with all government agencies regarding the lifetime validity of birth certificates, Senator Joel Villanueva said on Sunday, March 14.
“It’s very clear that birth certificates should be valid for a lifetime. It’s not a canned product that needs a ‘best before’ or expiration mark,” Villanueva said in a statement.
“It seems some government agencies are taking advantage of our people each time they submit birth certificates for different requirements needed by government agencies,” the senator pointed out.
At a hearing of the Senate Committee on Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Reorganization last Thursday, March 11, Villanueva prodded PSA officials to raise awareness of this policy on the lifetime validity of birth certificates to other government entities.
According to PSA deputy national statistician Leo Malagar, the agency changes the security paper every six months where birth certificates are printed on but this does not necessarily mean documents they issued expire.
However, some government agencies still persist in asking individuals to secure new copies of birth certificates from the PSA if it’s past the six months validity.
“PSA has to actively coordinate with government agencies to correct this misconception and confusion. PSA is in a position to do something about this,” Villanueva said.
“This issue only shows that we really need to pass this measure (Senate Bill No. 1281),” he said.
Villanueva has filed SB No. 1281 or the proposed Lifetime Validity of Birth Certificate Act. The bill, he said, primarily aims to ease the burden of ordinary Filipinos from inconvenience and unnecessary expenses, particularly for job applicants who need to submit a copy of their birth certificates during the hiring process.
The bill seeks to prohibit requiring applicants to government services to “submit birth records printed on the most recent version of the security paper used by the PSA, or those certified by the PSA within the past six months.” “We are born only once and the circumstances and details of our birth do not change,” he reiterated.