by Governments all over the world created births, marriages and death records, which are referred to as vital records for a number of purposes. These records are then used by the governments to quantify as well as identify health related issues and measure the quality of health improvement goals that they have set. The Philippines is no different. This article will act as a guide on how to find birth records in the Philippines.
Found in southeast Asia, the Philippines is situated in the western part of the Pacific, with south China Sea on the west, the Philippine sea on the east, and the Celebes sea on the southeast. The Philippines has a population of about 109 million, with 47 % of it found in urban areas. The Philippines median age is 25 years.
There are a number of ways one can go about in trying to find birth records on someone in the Philippines. It will all depend on a number of factors. For example, if you are looking to find birth information on someone who is currently alive, you will use a number of different ways than trying to find an ancestor.
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Social Media
Social media is one good example of a medium that can be used to find birthday information on someone who is currently alive. Quite a large number of the world’s population uses these platforms to communicate nowadays. A search from them will be appropriate.
There are about 73 million people who use social media sites in the Philippines. A lot of them access social networks through their phones. Facebook is the most popular as it has more than 96 % users, which is higher than even the United States.
Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn allow users to include personal details such as date of birth on their profiles. However, it is not compulsory to include these details. You can visit the person’s profile to find out. To do that log in to the social media platform that you presume they are using. Search for their name, username/ nickname on the search bar.
From the result that turn up, try to find the one you are looking for and click on it. This will bring up the profile of the person where you can find out if they have included their date of birth information on it.
Posts also are a major source of birthday information on someone. You can go through their posts over the previous year to find out if they posted anything on their birthday. This can be pictures, posts, congratulatory messages from friends, colleagues and family members.
History of Birth Records in the Philippines
Governments across the world register what is referred to as vital records. These are birth records, death records, marriage records and divorce records. vital records mark important events in a person’s life. They come in handy for genealogical research too.
The Philippines did not have any central civil administration that was responsible for collecting and preserving civil records until 1889. Most of the Philippines vital records that were registered before 1889 are only found in Catholic parish and diocesan archives.
The Spanish government was the one that created the Central Office of Statistics (Central Estadistica) in 1889, a division of the Bureau of Civil Administration. The division made it a requirement for all parish priests to regularly give the government details of birth, marriage, divorce and death records that occurred in their respective areas.
The Catholic clergy previously kept these records and would often give them to government but this was the first time that it had become a requirement for them to do so. This became a norm until the end of Spanish rule in 1898.
After the end of Spanish administration, the state and church were separated. Officials who were tasked with the responsibility of recording these records were appointed after a few years in each municipality.
However, a lot of twentieth century vital records that were with the Bureau of Census and Statistics were destroyed during the second world war. The Bureau of Census and Statistics later changed its name to the National Census and Statistics Office.
Information found on birth records in the Philippines include:
- Child’s name.
- Child’s sex/ gender.
- Child’s birth date.
- Child’s birthplace.
- Child’s legitimacy.
- Father’s name, religion, race, nationality, and occupation.
- Parents’ marriage date and place of marriage (city, municipality, and province).
If you are looking to find birth records in the Philippines that were recorded before the twentieth century you can visit Philippines Church Records.
Philippines Statistics Authority
The Philippines Statistics Authority has guidelines on how you can obtain birth records in the Philippines. They offer guidance on how you can request for them through the web as well as how to make walk in applications.
You will also be given all required information when making your application such as complete name of the person, complete name of father and mother’s maiden name, date of birth, place of birth and a whole lot more other details.
Other sources that offer searches for birth records in Philippines are Ancestry, On Genealogy and the National Archives of the Philippines.
Methods that can help you on how to find birth records in Philippines include these listed here. Try them to find out if they can give you the records you are looking for.
