THE measure giving permanent validity to certificates of live birth, death, and marriage lapsed into law last Monday after President Marcos Jr. took no action on it 30 days after it was received by his office, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. yesterday said.
Revilla is a principal sponsor of Republic Act 11909, or the Permanent Validity of the Certificates of Live Birth, Death, and Marriage Act.
Under the law, certificates of live birth, death, and marriage issued, signed certified, or authenticated by the Philippine Statistics Authority or its predecessor, the National Statistics Office, and local civil registries “shall have permanent validity regardless of the date of issuance.”
“Those certificates shall be recognized and accepted in all government and private transactions or services requiring the submission of the same as proof of identity and legal status of a person,” Revilla said.
The measure was crafted amid growing concerns that some government agencies and private institutions only accept said documents if they were issued six months prior to submission, thus creating an impression of a six-month validity.
The PSA, however, clarified that those certificates “do not have an expiration” but the constant changing of color and security papers lead to the rejection of the old documents.
“Ang panalo dito ay ang bawat Pilipino na hindi kailangan gumastos pa nang paulit-ulit para sa mga certificates dahil ang mga hawak at nabayaran na nila ay hindi mawawalan ng bisa (The Filipino people will benefit from this because they do not need to spend more money on certificates which they have already paid. They now have permanent validity),” Revilla said.
