RA 10172 and My (Mis)adventures (Part 1-Preview)

The last two weeks were the most stressful ones for me. After almost eighteen years, I finally had a chance to go back to Villanueva, Misamis Oriental, not to have a vacation, but to fix my birth certificate. As you guys might remember, my eighteenth goal to be accomplished this year is to fix the wrong gender entry on my birth certificate by virtue of Republic Act 10172.
I wrote something about this new law here.

What is RA 10172? As defined by law, RA 10172 is 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.

If you noticed that your name, gender, date of birth, parents' names had been misspelled, then you may file a petition for correction of entry by virtue of this law. Let me give you a background on how this law evolved:

From 1950 to March 2001, as per Civil Code of the Philippines, Article 376 and 412, respectively:

 

 

 

This means that,before March 2001, if there were wrong entries on our birth certificates, whether your long surname was misspelled or your birth date was marked SEPTERMBER 31, you have to undergo a tedious process of judicial hearing.

 March 22, 2001- Republic Act 9048 was signed into law by our then-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. However, if the error involves nationality, age, status or sex of the person, you still have to undergo judicial or court hearing. Sad to say, the entry that I wanted to change on my birth certificate was my gender.

Under RA 10172, the wrong gender entry on my birth certificate (MALE) can now be corrected and replaced into FEMALE.

Before my trip to the province, I researched about the requirements/documents that I should bring to file for a petition for correction.

Take note that this list of documents is not very specific, and it varies from one municipality to another. Based on several websites that I had visited, here is the list of the documents needed:

In my next entry, I will narrate everything I had been through in filing this petition.