Abante Caravan Service

PCPG sexagenarian

officially gets birth

PRESIDENT CARLOS P GARCIA, Bohol (PIA)—He was not just born yesterday, but grinning from ear to ear, a 62 years-old fisherman from Tilmobo Island of this town could now boast of his age and has a document to prove it, despite hardly believing he now has a copy of his live birth certificate in security paper. And got it for free.

Marino, (not his real name) already a sexagenarian, and 9 other residents joined authorities in a posterity picture as also finally displayed their birth documents, which several of them, could not get because they were not registered at birth. So there is nothing the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) could give them when they requested a copy of the same document.

And as they proudly show their copies, over a hundred others still remain who applied for the program to get them registered, albeit late, however, were a no-show as the PSA, hand-carried these documents to be distributed during the Abante Negosyo Service Caravan inside the Governor Erico B. Aumentado Gymnasium here, June 19,2026.

Already a senior citizen before he could be registered, Marino said he had requested for a copy of hoped he could finally get hold of his registered live birth document which he processed several administrations before, but he was simply not in the files.

Through the Birth Registration Assistance Program (BRAP) which he and hundreds of residents of President Carlos P. Garcia and its islands availed, he and countless other residents of the island-town now has undisputed access to government services like social protection, health care and other relief programs available to his sector.

More than that, that day, Marino’s birth certificate and PhilID cards serve as proof of identity, and a name and identify he now can caim as his own.

A nationwide initiative to formally acknowledge unregistered Filipinos especially those from the marginalized sector such as those like Marino, who are living in the country’s geographically isolated and depressed areas (GIDAs), indigenous peoples, and low income families whose birth registrations, come at the bottom of their priorities, BRAP is a special program for this particular purpose.

Set to ensure that all Filipinos, particularly those mentioned above, are registered in the civil registry and enrolled in the Philippine Identification System (PhilID) to get their Certificates of Live Birth (COLB) for free, BRAP supplements the PhilID.

Implemented with PhilID to seek out unregistered Filipinos and hand them their formal identities, BRAP intends to reach to the countless unregistered Filipinos who can get their personal copies of the document for free, during PSA organized or integrated government service caravans like the Abante Negosyo Caravan.

With the BRAP, requirements are loosened to make registration accessible, especially for vulnerable populations, and are enforced nationwide despite some local offices still following older procedures

Although the PSA has its regular service in the release of birth certificates by request through PSA Serbilis Outlets or via the Batch Request Query System in partnership with Local Civil Registrars for already registered birth records, BRAP registers births that were never registered, or registered belatedly, and allows LCRs to assist by establishing, verifying and registering the birth before issuing the free certificates under the program, according to the PSA.

Unlike Marino and 9 other residents of Lapinig island and its outlaying island barangays, the PSA has brought in over a hundred COLBs, official identities from PCPG residents who are now in the country’s registry of births, but these remain unclaimed.

For residents who have applied for the BRAP but were not able to claim their COLBs during the June 19 Abante Negosyo Service Caravan, these can be claimed at the Office of the Local Civil Registrar, President Carlos P Garcia Municipal Hall, PSA added. (PIA Bohol)