The Philippine Statistics Authority has detected 14.89 million late birth registrations from 2010 to 2024.
This came after Senator Risa Hontiveros asked during the Senate’s deliberations on the General Appropriations Bill for 2025, whether the PSA is conducting audits of birth certificates to address possible abuses in the registration process for foreigners to obtain Filipino citizenship as former Bamban Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo did.
The huge number of late registrations will be reviewed to prove they are authentic.
The PSA is currently auditing 50,532 late birth certificate registrations, which is only a small percentage of the total number of documents to be reviewed.
Meanwhile, 1,627 birth certificates obtained by foreign nationals have been blocked, of which 18 of them, including Guo’s birth certificate, have been endorsed by the Office of the Solicitor General for cancellation.
Abner is an award-winning journalist. He received the prestigious 2015 Titus Brandsma Award for Community Communication in the Philippines and participated in the 2016 International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the United States of America, sponsored by the US Embassy in the Philippines. Founder of WATCH NORTH COTABATO, a media-citizens’ transparency group. He worked as a correspondent for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and CNN Philippines. His experience in broadcasting includes anchoring for Brigada News FM in Kidapawan and General Santos City and Brigada News TV. He anchors Tira Brigada via 105.1 Brigada News FM Manila, Mondays-Saturdays.