Back when Filipinos need to acquire their latest copy of civil registry documents from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and its predecessor, National Statistics Office (NSO) for certain transactions, senators has finally passed on Monday the Senate Bill 2450 or the Permanent Validity of the Certificates of Live Birth, Death and Marriage Act on the House of Representatives by a unanimous vote 21-0 on the third and final reading.
The bill was principally authored by Senator Kiko Pangilinan, co-authored by Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, senators Win Gatchalian, Joel Villanueva, Sonny Angara, Grace Poe, Cynthia Villar, Nancy Binay and sponsored by Senator Bong Revilla
Under the proposed measure, "certificates of live birth, death, and marriage issued, signed, certified or authenticated by the PSA and its predecessor, the NSO, and the local civil registries shall have permanent validity regardless of issuance and shall be recognized and accepted in all government or private transactions or services requiring submission thereof, as proof of identity and legal status of a person."
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"The only exception is it if can no longer be read, or like a pained heart, it is already crushed. If the security features are no longer readable and authenticity is degraded, a new one is in order," Senate President Recto said.
"Or if the civil registrar subjected you to a sex change by clerical mistake so that you've become a 'he' instead of 'she', a gender reassignment caused by an errant stroke of a pen, then in that case, you will need a corrected birth certificate," the senator said.
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"This is the gist of the bill: A birthday can be celebrated yearly. But birth certificates are forever. Same with marriage. Legally, you can have many- for as long as it is due to death of spouse or of love- but the marriage certificate for each should be valid for as long as you two live happily together which is not necessarily ever after," he said.
"No state can guarantee that wedded bliss can last a lifetime. But it can issue a marriage certificate which does not expire for as long as love has not. If land titles of expensive real estate do not bear a 'best before' marking, why should civil registry documents have one?" Recto added.
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Through the bill, "public or private entities are barred from requiring a new copy of these certificates who transact business with them."
According to Revilla, the said measure will help the Filipinos to "unnecessarily spend time and money in securing new copies of their documents."
Meanwhile, Pangilinan said that the bill will be a relief for all especially those who need to apply for a job, passport or students who need the documents. The bill will help the majority spare their time and ease their financial burden.
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Source: INQUIRER.net
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