The Birth Registration Coordinator, Franz Angielyn B. Olarte, led an IEC on the Birth Registration Assistance Project (BRAP) at the ABBCR meeting, promoting collaboration to boost birth registration in the province.

Baguio City – The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) – Benguet office successfully conducted an Information Education Campaign (IEC) on the Birth Registration Assistance Project (BRAP) during the Association of Baguio-Benguet Civil Registrars (ABBCR) Regular Monthly Planning Meeting & Workshop for the year 2025. The event, held on January 09, 2025, gathered the City/Municipal Civil Registrars (C/MCRs) and Assistant Civil Registrars of Benguet to collaborate on improving birth registration services and ensure that more individuals are officially registered.

The IEC session aimed to raise awareness about BRAP, a national initiative created to assist indigent families, marginalized communities, indigenous people, Muslim 

Filipinos, the poorest sectors of the country, and individuals residing outside their place of birth in securing birth certificate, an essential document for accessing vital services.

The campaign also emphasized the significance of birth registration and provided an overview of the requirements and procedures for assisting families who may encounter challenges in registering their births. Additionally, it introduced the program's new target for 2025, with a goal of registering 400,000 births nationwide.

The event concluded with participants engaging in discussions on how to expand and improve the BRAP, with a particular focus on reaching individuals who do not have birth records and remain unregistered. One of the key solutions identified was enhancing coordination with City and Municipal Civil Registrars to better reach and assist these individuals. A proposed strategy was to coordinate the conduct of an IEC during events or activities at the Barangay and Municipal levels in the province of Benguet and Baguio City to disseminate information about the project and encourage greater registration.

Furthermore, participants highlighted the need to strengthen the implementation of the mobile registration initiative as a way to reach more individuals. This would involve recontacting those who previously received negative results, but still unregistered, providing them with the Negative Omnibus Certificate, and extending assistance to complete their registration, with the support of City/Municipal Civil Registrars.

The discussion also addressed challenges in the process, including inconsistencies and mismatches in document information, as well as delays in the verification results, and the issuance of negative omnibus certificate. These issues were raised by PSA-Benguet Chief Statistical Specialist Imelda L. Buyuccan to PSA-CAR Registration Office IV Gerard A. Tolito and were promptly addressed. In response, participants developed actionable plans for the successful implementation of the program in 2025. Through enhanced collaboration and strategic outreach efforts, PSA-Benguet is committed to improving access to essential services by ensuring that more individuals are accurately and efficiently registered, making the process smoother. 

IMELDA L. BUYUCCAN (SGD)

Chief Statistical Specialist