As a practicing lawyer, I learned that one of the most common problems in Catanduanes, or perhaps the entire country, is that some of the birth certificates, particularly those of the elders and senior citizens, contain irregularities and erroneous entries. Thus, in this week’s edition, our discussion will focus on the remedies available in order to correct and rectify your defective or erroneous birth certificate.
Our laws and rules provide three (3) different remedies according to the defects or irregularities in your birth certificate, to wit: (1) Rule 103 – Change of Name; (2) Rule 108 – Cancellation or Correction of Entries in the Civil Registry; and (3) Republic No. 9048 as amended by Republic Act No. 10172 – An Act Authorizing the City or Municipality Civil Registrar or the Consul General to Correct Typographical Error in An Entry and/or Change the First Name or Nickname in the Civil Register Without Need for a Judicial Order.
Originally, the rules governing all change of name and correction of clerical errors are Rule 103 and Rule 108 of the Rules of Court, respectively. Section 1 of Rule 103, any person desiring to change his name shall present a petition to the CFI (now RTC) of the province in which he resides. Section 1 of Rule 108, on the other hand, states that any person interested in any act, event, order or decree concerning the civil status of persons which has been recorded in the civil registry, may file a verified petition for the cancellation or correction of any entry relating thereto, with the CFI (RTC) of the province where the corresponding civil registry is located. Section 2 thereof speaks that upon good and valid grounds, the following entries in the civil register may be, cancelled or corrected: (a) births; (b) marriage (c) deaths. As can be gleaned from above, both Rule 103 and Rule 108 require a judicial proceeding.
However, by passage of Republic Act No. 9048 and later Republic Act No. 10172, the city and/or municipal civil registrars are authorized to correct clerical or typographical errors in an entry and/or change of first name or nickname.
The case of Dr. Ruben C. Bartolome vs Republic of the Philippines[1] summarized the respective functions and offices of the abovementioned rules:
- 1. A person seeking 1) to change his or her first name; 2) to correct clerical or typographical errors in the civil register; 3) to change/correct the day and/or month of his or her date of birth, and/or; 4) to change/correct his or her sex, where it is patently clear that there was a clerical or typographical error or mistake, must first file a verified petition with the local civil registry office of the city or municipality where the record being sought to be corrected or changed is kept, in accordance with the administrative proceeding provided under R.A. 904830 in relation to R.A. 10172.31 A person may only avail of the appropriate judicial remedies under Rule 103 or Rule 108 in the aforementioned entries after the petition in the administrative proceedings is filed and later denied.
- A person seeking 1) to change his or her surnameor; 2) to change both his or her first name and surname may file a petition for change of name under Rule 103, provided that the jurisprudential grounds discussed in Republic v. Hernandez are present.1âшphi1
- A person seeking substantial cancellations or correctionsof entries in the civil registry may file a petition for cancellation or correction of entries under Rule 108. As discussed in Lee v. Court of Appeals and more recently, in Republic v. Cagandahan, R.A. 9048 “removed from the ambit of Rule 108 of the Rules of Court the correction of such errors. Rule 108 now applies only to substantial changes and corrections in entries in the civil register.
Just to add, jurisprudence has recognized, inter alia, these grounds as being sufficient to warrant a change of name under Rule 103: (a) when the name is ridiculous, dishonorable or extremely difficult to write or pronounce; (b) when the change results as a legal consequence of legitimation or adoption; (c) when the change will avoid confusion; (d) when one has continuously used and been known since childhood by a Filipino name and was unaware of alien parentage; (e) when the change is based on a sincere desire to adopt a Filipino name to erase sign of former alienage, all in good faith and without prejudice to anybody; and (f) when the surname causes embarrassment and there is no showing that the desired change of name was for a fraudulent purpose or that the change of name would prejudice public interest.[2]
While the grounds for change of first name or nickname under R.A. 9048 are expressly provided therein, to wit:
SECTION 4. Grounds for Change of First Name or Nickname. — The petition for change of first name or nickname may be allowed in any of the following cases: (1) The petitioner finds the first name or nickname to be ridiculous, tainted with dishonor or extremely difficult to write or pronounce; (2) The new first name or nickname has been habitually and continuously used by the petitioner and he has been publicly known by that first name or nickname in the community; or; (3) The change will avoid confusion.
[1] G.R. No. 243288. August 28, 2019
[2] G.R. No. 117209, February 9, 1996