CEBU, Philippines - The Office of the Cebu City Civil Registrar (OCCR) has increased its collection by almost a million pesos in just six months, compared to last year’s midyear revenue.
According to lawyer Evangeline Abatayo, city registrar, an outstanding increase was generated by the OCCR for this year’s midyear returns amounting P7, 342,570.42.
This is P844, 438 more than last year’s midyear revenue which was at P6,499,132.
For the annual collection last year, the office collected a total of P12,998,264.43, almost P2 million more than 2011’s P11,097,379.20 annual revenue.
Abatayo explained that one reason for the increase of revenue is because more people have been tapping their office for ‘gender correction’ instead of them going to the court.
“Five per week gud ang magpa-correct sa gender kay nasayop ang sex kay ang pangan murag lalaki ug naa pud murag babaye so instead moadto sila sa court kita nalang ang mo-correct. (There are at least five per week who ask for a correction in gender. Some have been wrongly identified because their names sound like that of a man or a woman. So instead that they go to court, we change it here),†said Abatayo, adding that those who request for gender correction with their office only pay P3,000 which is much lesser than the court’s charges.
Further, Abatayo advised the parents to double check all the details in the registration of live birth before they sign.
Apart from the increase of numbers in acquiring gender correction, other issuances that helped in the increase of revenues are the Birth Registration and Issuance, Death Registration and Issuance, Legal Instrument and Court Orders and Issuance of NSO-Authenticated Civil Records.
This year, OCCR has already issued 27,376 birth certificates; 2, 342 approved delayed registrations; 23, 629 newly registered birth certificates; 2,339 have received and been issued marriage licenses; 2,625 were registered with certificates of marriage while another 1,879 were issued with marriage certificates.
The office has also noted 7,057 new registered certificates of death; 2,526 issued death certificates and 23,826 issued certificates of birth, marriage and death. — (FREEMAN)