NSO Birth Certificates Clerical Errors

My husband recently had to secure an NSO birth certificate.  To our horror, we found out that his last name was misspelled; instead of Trinidad, it appeared as Trinida. 

We researched and found there are ways now available to help you make the correction without the need for a court order.  R.A. 9048 took effect April 22, 2001 and authorized municipal civil registrar or the consul general to correct a clerical or typographical error without the need of a judicial order. 

Before this Republic Act, these types of errors had to be petitioned in court to get changed.  And knowing the Philippine judicial system, that would slow down one who was on a deadline to have his papers in order.  Luckily, all you have to do now is submit your petition to the civil registrar where your birth certificate was originally filed and in around 3 to 6 month's time have that error corrected

WHAT IS R.A. 9048?

As defined properly, it is "an Act authorizing the C/MCR or Consul General to correct a clerical or typographical error in an entry and / or change of first name or nickname in the civil registrar without need of a judicial order." 

Clerical errors are further defined as, "obvious mistake/s committed in clerical work, either in writing, copying, transcribing, or typing an entry in the civil register that is harmless and innocuous, such as misspelled name or misspelled place of birth and the like, and can be corrected or changed only by reference to other existing record or records.

This means you need to show that the entry you are correcting is to be changed to something that you have been using all this time and have evidence or documentation of it through identifications, school records, work records, et cetera.  One could change a first name if that first name is derogatory or ridiculous in nature.  

The Act further stipulates that no changes could be made, through this R.A, that affects sex, age, nationality and status of  a person.  This clearly means that you cannot change an entry involving your birth month, day or year, nor could you have your gender changed.  On changing birth months or any other corrections involving your birth date, you would have to go to the regular channels of going to court and justify the need for the change there. 

CONDITIONS TO BE MET
  • The petitioner finds the first name or nickname to be ridiculous, tainted with dishonor or extremely difficult to write or pronounce. 
  • The new first name or nickname has been habitually and continuously used by the petitioner and h has been publicly know bu that first name or nickname in the community, or, 
  • The change will avoid confusion. 

COST
  • Php 1,000 for correction on clerical errors
  • Php 3,000 for change in first name.  

ALSO SEE: 
See the primer for R.A. 9048 HERE for more information. 
You can get a form to print and fill-in HERE