Far from blaming a typographical or clerical error, a 34-year-old transsexual has filed a petition before a Manila court to change his gender description in his birth certificate from male to female.
The petition of Barry Romel (not his/her real name), resident of Pasig City, poses a challenge to the country’s statutes on gender descriptions in public documents.
In a three-page request, Barry also justified his wish for a change to a more feminine name "in order to have the same conform to his present status in life, freedom, aspiration, and contentment."
Barry, who was born in a hospital in Sampaloc, Manila, wants Judge Antonio Eugenio of Manila RTC Branch 24 to allow him to use the name Esperanza and presented proof of his sex change in Japan as certified by a local plastic surgeon.
"This is the first case of its kind that we ever had," said a staff member of Judge Eugenio. Court sources said there is no law covering such kind of a petition, adding it could set a precedent.
Barry said that although he was born "anatomically male, she has been behaviorally or mentally a female ... Having been converted from male to female, he desires to have his male name ... changed ... for additionally, being a pure Filipino he desires to have a Filipino name."
The petitioner assured that in asking for a change in name, he is not facing any criminal or civil cases, and presented court, police and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) clearances as his proof.
A lawyer’s son, Barry underwent breast augmentation in 1988 in a Japanese clinic in Osaka, Japan, and finally a "sex rearrangement surgery" on Jan. 4, 2000.
The local plastic surgeon, in issuing the certification dated Oct. 20, enumerated the parts of a female sex organ present in Barry during a "physical examination" conducted on the court petitioner.
"This means that although he was born anatomically a male, she was mentally a female," said the surgeon.
A picture of Barry in the NBI clearance he presented to court shows the likeness of a woman sporting short hair and shy smile.