The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Monday urged individuals belonging to marginalized communities, indigenous people’s groups, Muslim Filipinos, the poorest sector, and persons currently living outside their place of birth in the Ilocos Region to secure their birth certificates for free.

In a phone interview on Monday, PSA Ilocos Region information officer Jim Ian Bautista said the project called Birth Registration Assistance Project (PBRAP) aims to increase birth registration in these sectors of society.

“The implementation of the PBRAP is one of the major programs of the PSA which seeks to ensure that all births of Filipinos are registered in the local civil registry offices for their legal identity,” he said.

As of March 31, a total of 501 certificates of live birth (COLB) in security paper from PSA have been distributed.

Of the total number, Bautista said 19 were from Ilocos Norte province, 220 from Ilocos Sur, eight from La Union, and 254 from Pangasinan province.

The latest beneficiary was 101-year-old Bernabe Gacute from Ilocos Sur who is the oldest registered beneficiary of the PBRAP in the Ilocos Region.

“Through this project, beneficiaries will receive their COLBs printed in SECPA free of charge, as well as other benefits such as waived registration fees due to late registration and free issuance of negative certification,” Bautista said.

He added that the activity is aligned with their commitment to the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Decade for the birth registration of 99.5 percent of Filipinos by the end of 2024. (PNA)