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Republic Act No. 3753Law on Registry of Civil Status
REPUBLIC
ACT NO. 3753 LAW
ON REGISTRY OF CIVIL STATUS
Sec.
1. Civil Register. — A civil register is established for
recording
the civil status of persons, in which shall be entered:
(a)
births;
(b)
deaths;
(c)
marriages;
(d)
annulments of marriages;
(e)
divorces;
(f)
legitimations;
(g)
adoptions;
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(h)
acknowledgment of natural children;
(i)
naturalization; and
(j)
changes of name.
Sec.
2. Civil Registrar-General his duties and powers. — The
director
of the National Library shall be Civil Registrar-General and shall
enforce
the provisions of this Act. The Director of the National Library, in
his
capacity as Civil Registrar-General, is hereby authorized to prepare
and
issue, with the approval of the Secretary of Justice, regulations for
carrying
out the purposes of this Act, and to prepare and order printed the
necessary
forms for its proper compliance. In the exercise of his functions as
Civil
Registrar-General, the Director of the National Library shall have the
power to give orders and instructions to the local Civil registrars
with
reference to the performance of their duties as such. It shall be the
duty
of the Director of the National Library to report any violation of the
provisions of this Act and all irregularities, negligence or
incompetency
on the part of the officers designated as local civil registrars to the
(Chief of the Executive Bureau or the Director of the Non-Christian
Tribes)
Secretary of the Interior, as the case may be, who shall take the
proper
disciplinary action against the offenders.
Sec.
3. Local Civil Registrars. — Except in the City of Manila,
where
the duties of local civil registrar shall be performed by the officer
of
the Philippine Health Service designated by the Director of said
service,
the Treasurers of the regular municipalities, municipal districts and
cities
shall be local civil registrars of the respective municipalities,
municipal
districts or cities and shall perform the duties imposed upon them by
this
Act without extra compensation, in addition to their ordinary duties.
In
his capacity as local civil registrar, the officer designated by the
Director
of the Health Service as local civil registrar of Manila and the
treasurers
above mentioned shall be under the direction and supervision of the
Civil
Registrar-General.
Sec.
4. Civil Register Books. — The local registrars shall keep and
preserve
in their offices the following books, in which they shall, respectively
make the proper entries concerning the civil status of persons:
(1)
Birth and death register;
(2)
Marriage register, in which shall be entered not only the marriages
solemnized
but also divorces and dissolved marriages.
(3)
Legitimation, acknowledgment, adoption, change of name and
naturalization
register.
Sec.
5. Registration and Certification of Birth. — The declaration
of
the physician or midwife in attendance at the birth or, in default
thereof,
the declaration of either parent of the newborn child, shall be
sufficient
for the registration of a birth in the civil register. Such declaration
shall be exempt from the documentary stamp tax and shall be sent to the
local civil registrar not later than thirty days after the birth, by
the
physician, or midwife in attendance at the birth or by either parent of
the newly born child.
In
such declaration, the persons above mentioned shall certify to the
following
facts:
(a)
date and hour of birth;
(b)
sex and nationality of infant;
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(c)
names, citizenship, and religion of parents or, in case the father is
not
known, of the mother alone;
(d)
civil status of parents;
(e)
place where the infant was born;
(f)
and such other data may be required in the regulation to be issued.
In
the case of an exposed child, the person who found the same shall
report
to the local civil registrar the place, date and hour of finding and
other
attendant circumstances.
In
case of an illegitimate child, the birth certificate shall be signed
and
sworn to jointly by the parents of the infant or only the mother if the
father refuses. In the latter case, it shall not be permissible to
state
or reveal in the document the name of the father who refuses to
acknowledge
the child, or to give therein any information by which such father
could
be identified.
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Any
foetus having human features which dies after twenty four hours of
existence
completely disengaged from the maternal womb shall be entered in the
proper
registers as having been born and having died.
Sec.
6. Death certificate and register. — No human body shall be
buried
unless the proper death certificate has been presented and recorded in
the office of the local civil registrar. The physician who attended the
deceased or, in his default the health officer concerned, or in default
of the latter, any member of the family of the deceased or any person
having
knowledge of the death, shall report the same to the local health
authorities,
who shall issue a death certificate and shall order the same to be
recorded
in the office of the local civil registrar. The death certificate,
which
shall be issued by the attending physician of the deceased or, in his
default,
by the proper health officer, shall contain the following data be
furnished
by the person reporting the death:
(a)
date and place of death;
(b)
full name;
(c)
age;
(d)
sex;
(e)
occupation or profession;
(f)
residence;
(g)
status as regards marriage;
(h)
nationality of the deceased; and
(i)
probable cause of death.
During
epidemics, bodies may be buried provided the proper death certificates
have been secured, which shall be registered not later than five days
after
the burial of the body.
Sec.
7. Registration of marriages. — All civil officers and priests
or
ministers authorized to solemnize marriages shall send a copy of each
marriage
contract solemnized by them to the local civil registrar within the
time
limit specified in the existing Marriage Law.
In
cases of divorce and annulment of marriage, it shall be the duty of the
successful petitioner for divorce or annulment of marriage to send a
copy
of the final decree of the court to that local civil registrar of the
municipality
where the dissolved or annulled marriage was solemnized.
In
the marriage register there shall be entered the full name and address
of each of the contracting parties, their ages, the place and date of
the
solemnization of the marriage, the names and addresses of the
witnesses,
the full name, address, and relationship of the minor contracting party
or parties or the person or persons who gave their consent to the
marriage,
and the full name, title, and address of the person who solemnized the
marriage.
In
cases of divorce or annulment of marriages, there shall be recorded the
names of the parties divorced or whose marriage was annulled, the date
of the decree of the court, and such other details as the regulations
to
be issued may require.
Sec.
8. Registration of legitimations by subsequent marriage. — The
acknowledgment
of the children legitimated by subsequent marriage, referred to in
article
one hundred and twenty-one of the Civil Code, may be recorded in the
legitimation
register, entering: (a) The names of the parents; (b) that at the time
when the children were conceived, the aforesaid parents could have
contracted
marriage, and that they actually contracted marriage, stating the date
and place when such marriage was solemnized, the minister who
officiated,
and the civil register where such marriage was recorded; (c) the names
of the children legitimated with reference to their birth certificates.
Sec.
9. Registration of acknowledgment by public instrument. — Any
voluntary
acknowledgment by the natural parents or by only one of them by public
instrument, shall be recorded in the acknowledgment register of the
civil
registrar of the municipality where the decree was issued. The names of
the interested parties and such other data as may be required by the
regulations
to be issued shall be entered in register.
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It
shall be the duty of the natural parents whose voluntary acknowledgment
was may be means of a public instrument to send a certified copy
thereof
to the local civil registrar of the municipality in the civil register
whereof the birth of the acknowledged child was recorded, not later
than
twenty days after the execution of such instrument, for the
registration
thereof.
Sec.
10. Registrations of adoptions, changes of name, and
naturalization.
— In cases of adoptions, changes of name, and naturalization, it
shall
be the duty of the interested parties or petitioners to register the
same
in the local civil registrar of the municipality where the birth of the
acknowledged child was registered setting forth the following data:
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(a)
full name of the natural child acknowledged;
(b)
age;
(c)
date and place of birth;
(d)
status as to marriage, and residence of the child acknowledged;
(e)
full name of the natural father or mother who makes the acknowledgment;
(f)
full name of the notary public before whom the document was
acknowledged;
(g)
full names of witnesses to document;
(h)
date and place of acknowledgment of said document and entry and page
number
of the notarial register in which the name was recorded.
Sec.
11. Duties of clerks of Court to register certain decisions. —
In
cases of legitimation, acknowledgment, adoption, naturalization and
change
of given or family name, or both, upon the decree which issued the
decree
to ascertain whether the same has been registered, and if this has not
been done, to have said decree recorded in the office of the civil
registrar
of the municipality where the court is functioning.
Sec.
12. Duties of local civil registrar. — Local civil registrars
shall:
(a)
file registrable certificates and documents presented to them for entry;
(b)
complete the same monthly and prepare and send any information required
of them by the Civil Registrar-General;
(c)
issue certified transcripts or copies of any certificate or document
registered
upon payment of proper fees;
(d)
order the binding, properly classified, of all certificates or
documents
registered during the year;
(e)
send to the Civil Registrar-General, during the first ten days of each
month, a copy of the entries made during the preceding month for filing;
(f)
index the same to facilitate search and identification in case any
information
is required, and
(g)
administer oaths, free of charge, for civil register purposes.
Sec.
13. Documents registered are public documents. — The books
making
up the civil register and all documents relating thereto shall be
considered
public documents and be prima facie evidence of the truth of the facts
therein contained. They shall be open to the public during office hours
and shall be kept in a suitable safe which shall be furnished to the
local
civil registrar at the expense of the general fund of the municipality
concerned. The local registrar shall not under any circumstances permit
any document entrusted to his care to be removed from his office,
except
by order of a court, in which case the proper receipt shall be taken.
The
local civil registrar may issue certified copies of any document filed,
upon payment of the proper fees required in this Act.
Sec.
14. Expenses and fees of the office of the civil registrar. —
All
expenses in connection with the establishment of local civil registers
shall be paid out of municipal funds, and for this purpose, municipal
councils
and boards shall make the necessary appropriation out of their
available
general funds: (These fees have been increased)
For
the registration of documents and for certified copies of documents on
file in the local civil registrar's office, fees shall be charged in
accordance
with the following schedule:
For
registration of legitimations
...................................P
2.00
For
registration of an adoption
......................................
2.00
For
registration of an annulment of marriage ............. 10.00
For
registration of a divorce
..........................................
10.00
For
registration of naturalization .................................
20.00
For
registration of a change of name
............................
2.00
For
certified copies of any documents in the
register,
for each one hundred words ................................ .20
The
Civil Registrar General or any local civil registrar may issue
certified
copies of documents free of charge for official use or at the request
of
a competent court. All fees collected for such purposes shall accrue to
the general fund of the municipality concerned.
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Sec.
15. Preservation of present register books. — All birth, death
and
marriage registers and other papers relating thereto at present in the
keeping of the municipal secretaries or the clerk of the Municipal
Court
of Manila shall be transferred by the same to the officers acting as
local
civil registrars in each city or municipality and shall form part of
the
archives of the latter.
Sec.
16. False statement. — Any person who shall knowingly make
false
statement in the forms furnished and shall present the same for entry
in
the civil register, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than
one month nor more than six months, or by a fine of not less than two
hundred
pesos nor more than five hundred or both, in the discretion of the
court.
Sec.
17. Failure to report. — Other violations. — Any person whose
duty
is to report any fact concerning the civil status of persons and who
knowingly
fails to perform such duty, and any person convicted of having violated
any of the provisions of this Act shall be punished by a fine of not
less
than ten pesos nor more than two hundred.
Sec.
18. Neglect of duty with reference to the provisions of this Act. —
Any local registrar who fails properly to perform his duties in
accordance
with the provisions of this Act and of the regulations issued
hereunder,
shall be punished for the first offense, by an administrative fine in a
sum equal to his salary for not less than fifteen days nor more than
three
months, and for a second or repeated offense, by removal from the
service.
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Sec.
19. Application of this Act to the special provinces. — The
Director
of the National Library, in his capacity as Civil Registrar-General, is
hereby authorized upon recommendation of the (Director of Bureau of
Non-Christian
Tribes) Secretary of the Interior, to designate the municipalities in
the
specially organized provinces where the provisions of this Act shall be
applied.
Sec.
20. Transitory provisions. — All rights, duties and powers
established
by Act Numbered thirty-six hundred and thirteen, entitled the Marriage
Law, with the reference to the procedure for the issuance of the
marriage
license prior to the solemnization of marriage, the registration, of
marriages,
and the filing of the documents in connection therewith, conferred and
imposed by said Act upon the clerk of the Municipal Court of Manila and
the municipal secretaries, are hereby transferred to the officer of the
Health Service in accordance with section three of this Act, and to the
municipal treasurers, respectively, in their capacity as local
registrars.
All
duties and powers established by subsections (d) and (e) of section
twenty-one
hundred and twelve of the Administrative
Code, imposed and conferred by said section upon the municipal
secretaries,
are hereby likewise transferred to the municipal treasurers in their
capacity
as local civil registrars.
Sec.
21. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.
Sec.
22. This Act shall take effect three months after its approval.
Approved:
November 26, 1930.
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