ANGELES City Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin, Jr. said he already ordered the release of birth certificates of children born at the Ospital Ning Angeles (ONA), whose parents failed to settle their respective hospital bills.
Lazatin told SunStar Pampanga Saturday, July 27, 2019 that on July 12, he directed Dr. Lorina Villanueva, officer in charge of ONA, and Dr. Froilan Canlas, a medical consultant of the city government, to release all birth certificates that are being held by the hospital.
Some 3,158 birth certificates are now being released free of charge to indigent patients who failed to pay their hospital bills.
The mayor vowed that he will no longer allow similar incidents to happen in the future particularly to the indigent Angelenos.
The holding of birth certificates started in 1991, according to Lazatin.
"Kawawa naman ang ating mga kababayan. Iniisip ko paano nakakapag aral ang kanilang mga anak kung hindi narehistro ang mga birth certificates?” he said.
(I pity our townmates. How could the children go to school if they don’t have birth certificates?0
ONA officials and staff have been contacting the parents to claim the birth certificates at no cost, Lazatin said.
“Parte po ito ng ating serbisyo na tugunan ng pansin ang pangangailangan ng ating mga kababayan na sadyang kapos sa buhay,” he said.
On July 16, 2019, Councilor Joseph Ponce filed Resolution Number 8485 Series of 2019 requesting Lazatin and Villanueva, through the ONA Records Section, to effect the immediate release of registered and unregistered birth certificates with unpaid balances in accordance with Sections 34 and 34.1 of Ordinance Number 430 Series of 2017 otherwise known as the
Child Welfare Ordinance.