THE Philippine Statistics Authority-Davao Region (PSA-Davao) will open a new Civil Registration System (CRS) outlet in Malita, Davao Occidental on December 19, 2024.
Baby Jean Alid, PSA-Davao’s chief administration officer, shared that this new outlet, the fifth in the region, will help reduce long lines and wait times while offering affordable access to civil registration documents.
“Malaki po siyang tulong sa mga residents of that area, hindi na sila pupunta ng Digos or Davao na costly din yung pamasahe nila, doon na mismo sa kanilang lugar (This is a big help for residents in the area, as they no longer have to travel to Digos or Davao, where transportation costs are high. The outlet will be right there in their community),” Alid said.
With the Malita outlet, residents of Davao Occidental and neighboring provinces can now request birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, and certificates of no marriage (Cenomar) locally, saving them the time and cost of traveling.
For example, the trip from Malita to Digos takes about 90 minutes, while traveling to Davao takes roughly three hours.
Malita’s CRS outlet marks the third one to open this year, following the Digos outlet, which opened on May 29, and the Mati outlet in the Provincial Statistical Office of Davao Oriental, which launched on October 23.
Alid emphasized that the agency prioritizes opening one CRS outlet per province, given the cost of establishing the system and ensuring data privacy. However, local government units (LGUs) may apply to open their outlet, provided they cover staffing and operational costs.
"We have mobile outlets for Araw or Fiesta, if the LGU can make a request as well as other government agencies, we are very much willing to operate but right now the program to open it up to the province-level," the official added. DEF