Articles 407-413 of the Civil Code of the Philippines

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Title XV- CIVIL REGISTER

Art. 407.   Acts, events and judicial decrees concerning the civil status of persons shall be recorded in the civil register. (325a)


Art. 408. The following shall be entered in the civil register:

(1) Births;
(2) marriages;
(3) deaths;
(4) legal separations;
(5) annulments of marriage;
(6) judgments declaring marriages void from the beginning;
(7) legitimations;
(8) adoptions;
(9) acknowledgments of natural children;
(10) naturalization;
(11) loss, or (12) recovery of citizenship;
(13) civil interdiction;
(14) judicial determination of filiation;
(15) voluntary emancipation of a minor; and
(16) changes of name. (326a)

Art. 409. In cases of legal separation, adoption, naturalization and other judicial orders mentioned in the preceding article, it shall be the duty of the clerk of the court which issued the decree to ascertain whether the same has been registered, and if this has not been done, to send a copy of said decree to the civil registry of the city or municipality where the court is functioning. (n)


Art. 410. The books making up the civil register and all documents relating thereto shall be considered public documents and shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein contained. (n)

Prima facie – from latin words primus ‘first’ + facies ‘face’. It means “based on the first impression” or “accepted as correct until proved otherwise” (Oxford Dictionary)

Art. 411. Every civil registrar shall be civilly responsible for any unauthorized alteration made in any civil register, to any person suffering damage thereby. However, the civil registrar may exempt himself from such liability if he proves that he has taken every reasonable precaution to prevent the unlawful alteration. (n)


Art. 412. No entry in a civil register shall be changed or corrected, without a judicial order. (n)

This has been amended by R.A. No. 9048. Which was further amended by R.A. No. 10172.
WHAT IS REPUBLIC ACT 9048?
Republic Act (RA) 9048 authorizes the city or municipal civil registrar or the consul general to correct a clerical or typographical error in an entry and/or change the first name or nickname in the civil register without need of a judicial order.

RA 9048 amends Articles 376 and 412 of the Civil Code of the Philippines, which prohibit the change of name or surname of a person, or any correction or change of entry in a civil register without a judicial order.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved the act on 22 March 2001. With the law taking effect on 22 April 2001, the Civil Registrar-General promulgated Administrative Order No. 1 Series of 2001, which was published in the newspaper in August that year.

⚖️RA 9048 allows the following corrections:

  • correction of clerical or typographical errors in any entry in civil registry documents, except corrections involving the change in sex, age, nationality and status of a person.

(A clerical or typographical error refers to an obvious mistake committed in clerical work, either in writing, copying, transcribing, or typing an entry in the civil register that is harmless and innocuous, such as a misspelled name or misspelled place of birth and the like, and can be corrected or changed only by reference to other existing record or records.)
  • change of a person's first name in his/her civil registry document under certain grounds specified under the law through administrative process.

⚖️What are the conditions under R.A. No. 9048 that the petitioner needs to comply with?

(1) The petitioner finds the first name or nickname to be ridiculous, tainted with dishonor or extremely difficult to write or pronounce;
(2) The new first name or nickname has been habitually and continuously used by the petitioner and he has been publicly known by that first name or nickname in the community; or,
(3) The change will avoid confusion.

⚖️ Who may file a petition?
  • The petition may be filed by a person of legal age who must have a direct and personal interest in the correction of the error or in the change of first name in the civil register.
Only the following persons are considered to have a direct and personal interest in the correction of clerical error or change of first name:
  1. Owner of the record that contains the error to be corrected or first name to be changed
  2. Owner's spouse, children, parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, guardian, or any other person duly authorized by law or by the owner of the document sought to be corrected.

WHAT IS REPUBLIC ACT 10172?

R.A. No. 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.

Section 1 of the law provides that :
“Authority to Correct Clerical or Typographical Error and Change of First Name or Nickname. – No entry in a civil register shall be changed or corrected without a judicial order, except for clerical or typographical errors and change of first name or nickname, 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 in accordance with the provisions of this Act and its implementing rules and regulations.”
R.A. No. 10172 provided a new definition of clerical error from that provided by R.A. 9048.

"Section 2. Definition of Terms. – As used in this Act, the following terms shall mean:
(1) xxx xxx(2) xxx xxx(3) ‘Clerical or typographical error’ refers to a 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: Provided, however, That no correction must involve the change of nationality, age, or status of the petitioner.”

Art. 413. All other matters pertaining to the registration of civil status shall be governed by special laws. (n)


Refers to Act No. 3753, “An Act Establishing a Civil Register”.
References:
  • Albano, E. (2017).Family Code of the Philippines, pp. 38-39. Quezon City, Philippines: Central Books Supply, Inc.
  • Arellano Law Fovndation. (2019). The LAWPHiL Project. Philippine Jurisprudence. Retrived November 2019, from https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1989/jan1989/ gr_79955_1989.html
  • Philippine Statistics Authority. (2019). Civil Registration Laws. FAQs on Republic Act 9048. Retrieved November 2019, from https://psa.gov.ph/civilregistration/civil-registration-laws/faq-republic-act-no-9048
  • Philippine Statistics Authority. (2019). Civil Registration Laws. Republic Act 10172. Retrieved November 2019, from https://psa.gov.ph/civilregistration/civil-registration-laws/republic-act-no-10172

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