Birth registration is so critical to eradicating extreme poverty that is considered a key success indicator for the sixteenth sustainable development goal on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies and providing access to justice for all. But globally, one in every four, or 166 million children under the age of five are unregistered, according to UNICEF. This is a “scandal of invisibility” which is also present in the Philippines, where anywhere from 5 to 7.5 million Filipinos, of whom 40 percent are children, do not have birth certificates, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority and the Child Rights Network.
We review 20 identification requirements in the Philippines and find that a person’s birth certificate is needed to get an education, to vote, to enter the civil service, to wed in civil courts, to qualify for professional licenses, to legally drive vehicles, to claim pension benefits, and to claim inheritance, among other rights and privileges.
A person without a birth certificate is deprived of her voice, her identity, and her fighting chance to move out of poverty.
We find many barriers to birth registration — three critical ones are cost, conflict, and the unintended consequences of penalizing childbirth at home.
First, cost: in a sample of 17 children who underwent delayed birth registration with social workers, we find that the minimum cost to secure a delayed birth certificate is a prohibitive ₱1,700 to ₱3,500, three to seven days of earnings for a minimum wage worker. Legal and transport costs for documentary requirements represent the bulk of the costs, with the birth certificate itself representing less than a tenth of the total cost.
Second, conflict: in interviews with social and church workers engaged in civil registry, we find that some parents choose not to register children born out of extramarital relationships to prevent conflict with their spouses and people in areas with violent conflict may not trust the authorities with their data.
Third, unintended consequences: in our review of government policy, we find that some local governments have penalized mothers for giving birth at home, thinking this would encourage births at hospitals and accredited health care centers. But this leads parents to avoid registering their children’s birth to avoid incurring costs, especially for mothers who live in areas far from an accredited clinic. Several bills have been passed in Congress to enhance the current civil registration system, but there needs to be a collective effort among many stakeholders to make everyone count, especially with the recent coronavirus response and the rollout of the National ID system.
We survey existing stakeholders in the field of civil registry in the Philippines so local actors and international donors can organize with greater collective impact.
To build a country that leaves no one behind, we should count everyone because everyone should count.
This research is only the first step in galvanizing collective action to improve data access for empowerment. WeSolve would like to invite more citizens to critique, refine, and continuously shape the organizing principles and lessons identified. Please contact kiabante@wesolve.ph or jcvillasis@wesolve.ph if interested in collaborating.