The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Western Visayas has assisted 28,226 residents obtain their certificate of live birth under the Birth Registration Assistance Project (BRAP).

In the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas on Tuesday, July 23, PSA officer-in-charge regional director Nelida Amolar said under the BRAP, late registration is allowed for persons with no birth certificates, especially those belonging to the Indigenous Peoples communities, Muslim Filipinos, senior citizens, other vulnerable sectors and those living in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.

“These are our underprivileged folks with no birth certificates. They are the people with a very little chance of engaging in fraudulent acts to have birth certificates,” she said.

She said that of the 141,985 individuals who applied for negative omnibus certificates since 2022, a total of 104,319 applicants have been issued the documents as of July 24.

The negative omnibus certificate, which means an individual has no record of birth, is a requirement for late registration.

“This is in collaboration with our local civil registrars,” she added.

To reach out to more residents, Amolar said they bring the mobile registration with them when they conduct registrations for the national identification system, as well as in massive information and education drives.

The PSA reported that 6.73 million of the 7.95 million population in Western Visayas are already registered with the Philippine Identification System, partly due to the mobile registration campaign.

Over 4.3 million have already received their PVC cards, while the rest have been issued with electronic Philippine Identifications. (PNA)