Clerical lapse

I am a resident seminarian currently studying for priesthood at St. Vincent Seminary in Tandang Sora, Quezon City.

I was born on Oct. 15, 1975 in Caibiran, Biliran. I was baptized on May 8, 1976. My father did not register my birth until April 1997 with the Civil Registrar in our province. However, instead of writing down the correct date of my birth, the Civil Registrar instead wrote down the date of my baptism.

I was informed that to correct this error, I had to go to court. Last Nov. 15, 2010, I filed a petition in court for the correction of the entry of my birth date in the Certificate of Live Birth at the Regional Trial Court, Naval, Biliran, under Case No. CB-11-232. I received an acknowledgement from the RTC-Naval dated Jan. 26, 2011 stating that my petition was sufficient in form and substance. Since then, hearings were scheduled but as most notices of hearings go, many were not held as scheduled for one reason or another. I had hired and paid for the services of a lawyer, Atty. Redentor Villordon, to attend to this, since I was busy with my studies. However, I felt that I was being given the run-around and that my case was going nowhere when even my own lawyer couldn’t give me satisfactory reasons for the frequent postponements of hearings.

I sought assistance from the Ombudsman regarding my case and on Feb. 27, 2012, the Ombudsman sent a letter to RTC-Naval requesting them to expedite resolution of my petition. As of this writing, I have not heard from any of the parties concerned.

What should have been a simple civil case that involved correcting an error has ballooned to a huge problem that nobody seems to want to touch. Through your respected newspaper, may I forward this appeal to the Hon. Bienvenido M. Montalla- Judge Designate, Atty. Edna Honor- Prosecutor, and Atty. Redentor Villordon for their immediate action on my case.

Through no fault of my own, I am being deprived of my rights as a citizen to hold a valid Birth Certificate on which would rest all my other personal records and without which I cannot hope to apply for a valid passport. I need these very badly if I hope to finish my theological studies at the St. Augustine Seminary of Toronto in Canada this year.

Thank you very much for your kind assistance.