A children’s rights advocacy group on Tuesday called on Senator Christopher Lawrence Go to act on the bill providing free, accessible, and inclusive birth registration.

Child Rights Network (CRN) said the bill would benefit 3.7 million unregistered Filipinos, which includes over 1 million children.

CRN convenor Rom Dongeto noted that the bill has been in Go’s committee since August 2022.

“Advocates have reached out to Senator Go’s office several times and have presented the urgency of the Civil Registration Bill’s passage, but the Senator, as Chair of the Committee on Health and Demography, has not yet scheduled the bill for initial deliberations,” he said.

Dongeto, who is also the executive director of the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development, emphasized that the bill will reform the civil registration system and make it accessible to everyone.

“It will institutionalize services such as the Barangay Civil Registration System and Mobile Civil Registration System,” he said.

“It addresses the problem faced by many Filipino children who cannot finish school, access healthcare, or realize their dreams simply because they lack documents establishing their identities, he added.

Citing that having a birth certificate is an inalienable human right of every child, the bill’s reforms in government system and transparency will address fraudulent registrations and impose stiffer penalties for violators.

The House of Representatives version of the bill has been approved by the Committee on Population and Family Relations.

Child rights advocates are confident that House members would support the bill and will clear the next steps in the lower chamber before the 19th Congress ends.

Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority on Nov. 7 this year showed that the provisional number of registered births from January to December 2023 reached 1,448,552. Among the regions, Calabarzon logged the highest number of registered births at 217,906.

Meanwhile, Cavite province recorded the highest number of registered births among provinces at 57,275.

“We urge Senator Go, for the sake of our children’s future, to prioritize hearing the bill now or relinquish it to another relevant committee where advocates believe the bill would have a stronger chance of being passed,” Dongeto said. (PNA)