|
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Statistics office celebrates Universal Birth Registration Day
NATIONAL Statistics Office (NSO) Regional Director Maqtahar Manulon admitted Wednesday that the region contributes to the figure released by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that some five million Filipinos are unregistered and unaccounted for by proper government agencies.
Manulon in a press conference said most of those unregistered in the region are those that belong to tribal groups and Indigenous Peoples entangled with their old customary practices of not registering their births.
Director Manulon also cited some "obstacles" that block proper documentation of birth even among well-to-do families due to illegitimacy.
The NSO joined the world in celebrating "Universal Birth Registration Day" last Wednesday, and explained the significance of the celebration during a press conference at the city's Lotus Restaurant, Astoria Hotel.
Manulon likened the unregistered individual to a "non-existing being," even as he stressed the value of birth registration to several government and non-governmental undertakings that need proper accountability and documentation of birth records.
A child's registered name is a right that every parent must give his or her offspring, and this is what the NSO campaign hopes to achieve - convince parents to register their births, Manulod stressed.
(February 24, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
