Now the Law Allows Administrative Corrections of Errors on the Day and Month of Birth or Sex of a Person

You can now do away with the technical way of correcting errors in your certificates of live birth containing a patent clerical or typographical errors or mistake involving entries on the day and month in the date of birth or sex.

President Aquino signed into law Republic Act No. 10172 known as AN ACT FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY OR MUNICIPAL CIVIL REGISTRAR OR THE CONSUL GENERAL TO CORRECT CLERICAL OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS IN THE DAY AND MONTH IN THE DATE OF BIRTH OR SEX OF A PERSON APPEARING IN THE CIVIL REGISTER WITHOUT NEED OF A JUDICIAL ORDER, AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED NINETY FORTY-EIGHT.

Before this Republic Act No, 10172, only the change of first name and correction of minor clerical errors were allowed. However,  Republic Act 10172 amended Republic Act No. 9048 which includes not only the clerical or typographical errors and change of first name or nickname but also the day and month in the date of birth or sex of a person where it is patently clear that there was a clerical or typographical error or mistake in the entry, which can be corrected or changed by the concerned city or municipal civil registrar or consul general.

It is important to take note that the clerical or typographical error referred in the amendment is the mistake committed in the performance of clerical work 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, mistake in the entry of day and month in the date of birth or the sex of the person or the like, which is visible to the eyes or obvious to the understanding, and can be corrected or changed only by reference to other existing record or records and does not include  corrections involving  the change of nationality, age, or status of the person (petitioner) concerned. On the other hand, for substantial errors or those which are not mere clerical or typographical errors there is still a need for an adversarial proceedings by filing a petition to effect the changes.

If it is a cancellation or correction of entries involving (a) births (except misspelled place of birth, mistake in the entry of day and month in the date of birth or the sex of the person or the like); (b) marriages; (c) deaths; (d) legal separations; (e) judgments of annulments of marriage; (f) judgments declaring marriages void from the beginning; (g) legitimations; (h) adoptions; (i) acknowledgments of natural children; (j) naturalization (k) election, loss or recovery of citizenship (l) civil interdiction; (m) judicial determination of filiation; (n) voluntary emancipation of a minor; and (o) changes of name this can be done by filing a petition for the cancellation or correction of entries of the civil registry records under Rule 108 of the Rules of Court. The cancellation or correction can be allowed upon good and valid grounds.

If you want to avail the amendment introduced by Republic Act No. 10172 just visit the local civil registrar where your birth was recorded.

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