Birth certificates issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) have no expiration date.
This was the clarification made by Daniel Ariaso, Sr., Deputy National Statistician of the Civil Registration and Central Support Office, to GMA’s 24 Oras. “Walang instruction yung PSA na ganyan na may expiration,” he said.
This comes on the heels of the filing of a new bill by Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto which seeks to give a “lifetime validity” to birth certificates, and end the practice of institutions requiring an “NSO copy” (the PSA used to be called the National Statistics Office, or NSO) for official transactions each time. Many of these institutions require that the birth certificate submitted to them be issued by the PSA in the last six months to a year.
“However, depende na sa mga nagre-require na government agencies or private institutions also kung ano ang gusto nilang issuance ng copy mismo,” Ariaso added, saying that the PSA does not have control over these institutions.
The PSA regularly changes its security paper (SECPA), the yellow paper that the “NSO copy” is printed on, to ensure the authenticity of the documents the agency provides. However, it maintains that even those documents which were issued previously on SECPA are still valid.
Senator Recto said, “Kaya nakakalungkot na marami pa ring mga opisina na ang gusto ay bagong kuhang birth certificate, na isang pahirap sa isang aplikante.”
A copy of the birth certificate obtained from the PSA office costs P155, but the charge comes up to Php330 a copy if you place the order online and have it delivered to you.
By filing this bill, and eventually when it becomes a law, Senator Recto hopes to stop offices from enforcing “an unnecessary, expensive, and oppressive requirement.”
In April 2019, RA 11261, a law which aims to ease the burden of new job applicants, was signed. The “First Time Job Seekers Assistance Act” waives the fees for birth certificates, NBI clearance, barangay clearance, and other documents required of first-time job seekers.
