A TOTAL of 3,114 petitions for correction of clerical error and change of name were filed in the Local Civil Registrar’s (LCR) Office in Davao City, an official said.
Orlando Alvaira of the LCR Birth Division, in the I-Speak media forum said that such petitions are applied for the last year 2015.
According to Alvaira, Republic Act 9048 covers the clerical error of names in the birth certificates, while the Republic Act 10172 covers the change of first name, the gender, and day and month of the birthday in the registered birth certificates.
He said that the filing fee of such corrections entails P1,000 for petition for correction of clerical error, while the P3,000 for the petition for correction of the first name, gender and day and month of the birthday.
He also said that a publication is required for all corrections except for the clerical errors.
“Wala pay labot ang publication, ang applicant ang magpa-publish sa newspaper. Sa Davao city pwede sa local newspaper pero migrant petitioner sa laing lugar dapat sa national and local publication. Ang walay publication lang kaya ng correction sa clerical error under 9048. (The payment does not include the publication. The applicants are the ones who will pay to publish it to the newspaper. If it’s only in Davao City, it can be published in local newspaper but if the petitioner is a migrant petitioner from other place will have to publish it in national and local publication. The only ones that doesn’t need to be published are those who had clerical errors under R.A 9048),” Alvaira said.
He also said that those who have registered on the Local Registrar’s Office of outside Davao an still file for petitions for corrections change of names as migrant petitioner but he/she cannot file for change of gender as it can only be changed in the original area where the petitioner filed his/her registration.
Alvaira also advised parents to check documents first before signing it or passing it to civil registrar to avoid errors.
“Parents should check that before they sign the document they will fill it up first and that they may review the spelling,” Almaira said.
He added that in Davao City there is a memorandum between the city registrar’s office and the city mayor’s office that once the document is registered it cannot be altered any more just like the practices in the previous years.
“Once the document is submitted, and once the document is already entered into the computer system, then errors seen afterwards will require a petition for correction of clerical error,” Alvaira added.
He also denied a report that the petition for correction of clerical errors is now free, as it is stated in the implementing rules and regulations that it requires payment. (KVC)