NSO puts up more ‘Serbilis’ centers

As new "Census Serbilis" centers are rolling out nationwide, Filipinos can request for copies of birth, marriage and death certificates practically anywhere in the country.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) maintains six Census Serbilis centers in Metro Manila and has opened 11 regional outlets nationwide to spare the public from having to spend and travel all the way to the Census Serbilis main outlet in Manila just to secure their civil registry documents.

More Census Serbilis centers in the regions are expected to open by the end of the third quarter this year, through a 12-year multi-phase civil registry system project of NSO and Unisys Phils.

The operation of new Serbilis centers in strategic cities nationwide is expected to further build up a "request-anywhere" capability in the computerization of NSO’s civil registry operations.

Each Census Serbilis center has been computerized and can issue certified copies of birth, marriage and death certificates, certificate of no marriage record, and authenticated civil registry documents.

Aside from the main Census Serbilis center on East Avenue in Quezon City, the other five Metro Manila centers in Pasay City and in the city government offices of Caloocan, Makati, Muntinlupa and Pasig are now operational and also provide the full range of services.

Census Serbilis centers in local government offices are open not just to their constituents but to people outside the localities.

The Serbilis center in Pasay, strategically located across the Department of Foreign Affairs, conveniently serves individuals needing birth or marriage certificates for travel.

In Luzon, regional Census Serbilis centers are now operational in the cities of Baguio, Tuguegarao, San Fernando in Pampanga, and San Fernando in La Union.

The Visayas has Census Serbilis centers in the cities of Cebu, Iloilo and Tacloban, while Mindanao has centers in the key cities of Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Zamboanga.

Seen to further rev up the NSO’s service, birth records from 1960 to 1986 and 1992 to 1996 have been converted into digital format, enabling document transaction to be faster.

Carmelita Ericta, NSO administrator and civil registrar-general, said these periods cover birth documents of some 50.6 million Filipinos or close to two-thirds of the population.

She added that birth record conversion from 1945 to 1999, including endorsements and foreign births, will be completed by November this year.