THE Davao City Civil Registrar’s Office (CCRO) reported a drop in the applications for birth certificates from about 29,000 in 2024 to 27,000 in 2025.
Nenita Hementera, Division Head of the CCRO’s Birth Division, said during the ISpeak media forum on Thursday, January 22, 2026, at the City Mayor’s Office, that when it comes to birth certificates, the CCRO processed 29,090 applications in 2024, but only 27,310 applications were received in 2025.
Hementera addressed the decline saying, “So medyo nabigla tong mga applicants or registrants, so syempre nag-prepare sila, ang nakuha nila nga requirements is base pa tong before nga gipagawas nga memorandum circular.”
(So the applicants or registrants were somewhat caught off guard. Of course, they prepared, and the requirements they were able to secure were still based on the previously issued memorandum circular.)
The official attributed the significant drop to the unpreparedness of the applicants for the new requirements introduced through PSA Memorandum Circular 2024-17, which implemented stricter policies for delayed registration.
Delayed registration applies to births not recorded within 30 days, and requires a PSA negative result confirming no existing record, a joint affidavit, and two supporting documents such as baptismal certificates, school records, or government-issued IDs.
Additional requirements include two pieces of 2x2 white background photos of the applicant, national ID of the registrant, barangay certificate of residency for both parents and the applicant, valid IDs of parents (or death certificates if deceased), marriage contract of the applicant’s parents, and cedula, with personal appearance mandatory for adult registrants.
The PSA processes and encodes all records every tenth of the following month.
Adeline G. Batucan, chief statistical specialist of the PSA Davao del Sur Provincial Statistical Office, emphasized that the new guidelines were put in place to address verification issues encountered nationwide over the past two years, including concerns related to fake registrants, and all certified documents now carry verification stickers.
To improve accessibility and reduce delays, the CCRO and PSA have rolled out extensive outreach initiatives. Weekly updates on civil registration are broadcast, and district offices are operational in Paquibato, Bunawan, Buhangin, Tugbok, Toril [located at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) office], Baguio, Calinan, and Marilog.
Barangay Civil Registration Systems training is being provided to local staff, including 16 identified Indigenous Peoples communities, to eliminate language barriers and prevent name spelling errors.
Out-of-town registration is coordinated through PSA-Davao Region evaluation, while school-based programs involve 40 public school teachers and 10 mobile Alternative Learning System teams.
The agencies also participate in Local Government Unit caravans and Brigada Eskwela activities to reach more residents.
Trained Civil Registration Agents conduct house-to-house visits and set up mobile registration sites in barangays or tribal halls, ensuring services are brought closer to people in remote areas struggling to travel to city offices. Key service details include permanent validity for all PSA birth certificates — even older National Statistics Office-issued copies — as long as they are authentic.
Officials emphasized that these initiatives reflect a collective effort to ensure every resident of Davao City and the Davao Region has access to proper civil registration, which is essential for accessing education, employment, government services, and travel documents. With ongoing support from local barangays, schools, and Indigenous communities, the goal is to minimize delayed registrations and make the process more efficient, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of all citizens. ALEXA JULIANA P. FRANCISCO/UIC INTERN