Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 19) — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has launched a special project to ensure the birth registration of Indigenous Peoples (IP) in the Philippines.
Under the project, members of Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs) can process or request their birth certificates for free, the department said Monday.
IPs are among the poorest and most disadvantaged sectors in the Philippines. They often live in isolated areas with little access to basic services and opportunities for economic activities, education or political participation.
“This project will not only include Indigenous Peoples in the national registry of birth but will likewise pave the way for inclusion towards building and fostering relationships between their community and the government,” DSWD Secretary Erwin Tulfo said of the program, which kicked off last Thursday.
According to the agency, the project will help in accessing government programs and services.
DSWD partnered with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“This undertaking will benefit our IP brothers and sisters on an equal footing from the opportunities and privileges granted by national laws and regulations to other segments of the population,” Tulfo added.
In 2021, Congress approved House Bills 1332 and 2812 authored by Gabriela Party-list Representative Arlene Brosas and Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez, respectively.
The proposed bills seek to provide a free and culture-sensitive civil registration system for IPs.
In its explanatory note, HB 1332 noted that more than 60 percent of IPs are unrecorded in the Philippines’ civil registry.
“They have been discouraged to register their biological milestones (birth, marriage, and death) because they find the prevailing registration system as financially prohibitive and ‘’not friendly’ to their unique ways, traditions, and culture,” the bill read.
If passed into law, the state will be mandated to establish an Indigenous Peoples Civil Registration System (IPCRS) that is sensitive and appropriate to cultural practices of IPs in terms of birth, marriage, and death.
Section 6 of the proposed bill also states that IPs are exempted from fees in recording their birth, marriage, and death.
This includes exemption from notarial fees and document stamp tax.
