03 August 2024 - CABANATUAN CITY, NUEVA ECIJA. The Philippine Statistics Authority – Nueva Ecija continues to serve and help Nueva Ecija residents to register their Certificate of Live Birth (COLB) under the Birth Registration Assistance Project (BRAP) to have a name and nationality.

BRAP, a joint project of the PSA and the Cabanatuan City Civil Registry Office that began in January 2023, aims to extend its services to members of marginalized communities, Indigenous People, Muslim Filipinos, the poorest sector of the country, person living outside of their birth place, and senior citizens by registering their births and providing them with copies of their birth certificates in security paper (SECPA) free-of-charge.

Many Sama Bajau face similar barriers to education, employment and access to healthcare and other social services due to their lack of civil documentation. The group’s itinerant lifestyle, coupled with generations of non-registration of births, has put them at risk of being stateless.

Without proof of legal identity, they encounter problems when enrolling their children in school, applying for certain jobs, and even traveling to some areas outside of their communities.

That’s why they are thankful because they already had a preliminary document that they can use to prove their existence. Finally, they won't have to grapple to prove their identity when applying for social services to enjoy their rights as a Filipinos.

Out of the one hundred beneficiaries, fifty-nine Sama Bajaus physically claimed their Birth Certificates which was awarded by the City Civil Registrar and Birth Registration Coordinators.

The awarding of the Certificate of Live Birth (COLB) is a result of the campaign to improve the civil registration aligned with the goals of the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics.

GIRLIE G. DE GUZMAN
Supervising Statistical Specialist
Officer-in-Charge
Nueva Ecija