Reconciliation of RA 9048 (as amended by RA 10172) and Rules 103 & 108 of the Rules of Court

What do you need to do to correct/change your - misspelled/incorrect first, middle or last name; incorrect date of birth; or incorrect sex/gender? What to do if you do not have a last name or surname on your birth certificate? What law and/or rule governs the correction/change/cancellation of entries in the civil registry?

CORRECTION / CHANGE / CANCELLATION 
of Entries in the Civil Registry

Entries in the civil register include births, marriages, deaths, legal separations, annulments of marriage, judgments declaring marriages void from the beginning, legitimations, adoptions, acknowledgments of natural children, naturalization, loss or recovery of citizenship, civil interdiction, judicial determination of filiation, voluntary emancipation of a minor, changes of name and others.

The governing law on change of name and correction of clerical and typographical errors in the civil register including day and/or month of a person’s date of birth and sex] is currently Republic Act (RA) 10172, which amended RA 9048. Prior to these laws, the controlling provisions on changes/corrections of names and corrections/cancellations of entries in the civil registry were Art. 376 and Art. 412 of the New Civil Code (NCC) in relation to Rule 103 and Rule 108 of the Rules of Court (ROC).

Art. 376, NCC: "No person can change his name or surname without judicial authority."    

Art. 376 states the need for judicial authority before any person can change his or her name. 

Art. 412, NCC: "No entry in a civil register shall be changed or corrected without a judicial order."

Art. 412 provides that judicial authority is also necessary before any entry in the civil register may be changed or corrected.

Under the old rules, a person would have to file an action in court (JUDICIAL PROCEEDING) under Rule 103 for substantial changes in the given name or surname provided they fall under any of the valid reasons recognized by law, or Rule 108 for corrections of clerical errors and cancellation of entries in the civil registry.

Applying Art. 412 of the NCC, a person desiring to change his or her name altogether must file a petition under Rule 103 with the Court of First Instance (now Regional Trial Court [RTC]), which will then issue an order setting a hearing date and directing the order's publication in a newspaper of general circulation. After finding that there is proper and reasonable cause to change his or her name, the RTC may grant the petition and order its entry in the civil register.

On the other hand, Rule 108 applies when the person is seeking to correct clerical and innocuous mistakes in his or her documents with the civil register. It also governs the correction of substantial errors in the entry of the information enumerated in Sec. 2 of this Rule 108 and those affecting the civil status, citizenship, and nationality of a person.The proceedings under this rule may either be summary, if the correction pertains to clerical mistakes, or adversary, if it pertains to substantial errors.

RA 9048 amended Arts. 376 and 412 of the NCC, effectively removing clerical errors and changes of the name outside the ambit of Rule 108 and putting them under the jurisdiction of the civil registrar.

RA 9048 governed the correction of clerical or typographical errors and change of first name or nickname. It also dispensed with the need for judicial proceedings in case of any clerical or typographical mistakes in the civil register or changes in first names or nicknames.

Rule 108 now governs only the cancellation and/or correction (of SUBSTANTIAL errors) of the following entries in the civil registry: births, marriages, deaths, legal separations, annulments of marriage, judgments declaring marriages void from the beginning, legitimations, adoptions, acknowledgments of natural children, naturalization, loss or recovery of citizenship, civil interdiction, judicial determination of filiation, voluntary emancipation of a minor and changes of name.

In 2012, RA 9048 was amended by RA 10172. In addition to the change of the first name, the day and month of birth, and the sex of a person may now be changed without judicial proceedings. RA 10172 clarifies that these changes may now be administratively corrected where it is patently clear that there is a clerical or typographical mistake in the entry. It may be changed by filing a subscribed and sworn affidavit with the local civil registry office of the city or municipality where the record being sought to be corrected or changed is kept. 

CORRECTION of CLERICAL / TYPOGRAPHICAL errors & 
CHANGE of First Name or Nickname / Day and Month in the Date of Birth / Sex 
by the Local [City / Municipal] Civil Registrar or Consul General (under RA 9048)

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 (Sec. 1, RA 9048, as amended by RA 10172).

Clerical or typographical error 

It 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, status or sex of the petitioner (Sec. 2(4), RA 9048, as amended by RA 10172).

Who May File the Petition and Where (Sec. 3, RA 9048)

   Any person having direct and personal interest in the correction of a clerical or typographical error in an entry and/or change of first name or nickname, day and month in the date of birth or sex of a person in the civil register may file, in person, a verified petition (notarized affidavit) with the:

• local civil registry office of the city or municipality where the record being sought to be corrected or changed is kept;
• in case the petitioner has already migrated to another place in the country and it would not be practical for such party, in terms of transportation expenses, time and effort to appear in person before the local civil registrar keeping the documents to be corrected or changed, the petition may be filed, in person, with the local civil registrar of the place where the interested party is presently residing or domiciled;
• citizens of the Philippines who are presently residing or domiciled in foreign countries may file their petition, in person, with the nearest Philippine Consulate.

Grounds for Change of First Name or Nickname (Sec. 4, RA 9048)

The petition for change of first name or nickname may be allowed in any of the following cases:

a.   the petitioner finds the first name or nickname to be ridiculous, tainted with dishonor or extremely difficult to write or pronounce.

b.   the new first name or nickname has been habitually and continuously used by the petitioner and he has been publicly known by that by that first name or nickname in the community: or

c.    the change will avoid confusion.

Form and Contents of the Petition (Sec. 5, RA 9048)

The petition shall be in the form of a notarized affidavit.

The affidavit/petition shall:

- set forth facts necessary to establish the merits of the petition;

- show affirmatively that the petitioner is competent to testify to the matters stated;

- the particular erroneous entry or entries, which are sought to be corrected and/or the change sought to be made;

- be supported with the following documents:

certified true machine copy of the certificate or of the page of the registry book containing the entry or entries sought to be corrected or changed;   

at least two (2) public or private documents showing the correct entry or entries upon which the correction or change shall be based; and

other documents which the petitioner or the city or municipal civil registrar or the consul general may consider relevant and necessary for the approval of the petition.

- be published at least once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation;

- submit a certification from the appropriate law enforcement agencies that he has no pending case or no criminal record;

- be filed in three (3) copies to be distributed as follows: first copy to the concerned city or municipal civil registrar, or the consul general; second copy to the Office of the Civil Registrar General; and third copy to the petitioner;

- (petition for correction of erroneous entry concerning the date of birth or the sex of a person) be accompanied by earliest school record or earliest school documents such as, but not limited to, medical records, baptismal certificates and other documents issued by religious authorities;

- (petition for correction of entry involving change of gender) be accompanied by a certification issued by an accredited government physician attesting to the fact that the petitioner has not undergone sex change or sex transplant. 

Duties of the City or Municipal Civil Registrar or the Consul General (Sec. 6, RA 9048)

He shall post the petition, after examining it and its supporting documents, in a conspicuous place provided for that purpose for ten (10) consecutive days after he finds the petition and its supporting documents sufficient in form and substance.

The city or municipal civil registrar or the consul general shall act on the petition and shall render a decision not later than five (5) working days after the completion of the posting and/or publication requirement. 

He shall transmit a copy of his decision together with the records of the proceedings to the Office of the Civil Registrar General within five (5) working days from the date of the decision.

Where the petition is denied by the city or municipal civil registrar or the consul general, the petitioner may either appeal the decision to the civil registrar general or file the appropriate petition with the proper court.

Duties and Powers of the Civil Registrar General (Sec. 7, RA 9048)

The civil registrar general shall, within ten (10) working days from receipt of the decision granting a petition, exercise the power to impugn such decision by way of an objection based on the following grounds:

1.    the error is not clerical or typographical;

2.    the correction of an entry or entries in the civil register is substantial or controversial as it affects the civil status of a person; or

3.    the basis used in changing the first name or nickname of a person does not fall under Sec. 4 of RA 9048.

 

The civil registrar general shall immediately notify the city or municipal civil registrar or the consul general of the action taken on the decision. Upon receipt of the notice thereof, the city or municipal civil registrar or the consul general shall notify the petitioner of such action.

The petitioner may seek reconsideration with the civil registrar general or file the appropriate petition with the proper court.

If the civil registrar general fails to exercise his power to impugn the decision of the city or municipal civil registrar or of the consul general within the period prescribed herein, such decision shall become final and executory.

Summary of the APPLICABILITY of 
RA 9048, as amended by RA 10172,
Rules 103 & 108, ROC and RA 9255

A person seeking: 

1.    to CHANGE his or her first name; 

2.    to CORRECT clerical or typographical errors in the civil register; 

3.    to CHANGE/CORRECT the day and/or month of his or her date of birth; and/or 

4.    to CHANGE/CORRECT his or her sex; 

…where it is patently clear that there was a clerical or typographical error or mistake, must first file a verified petition with the local civil registry office of the city or municipality where the record being sought to be corrected or changed is kept, in accordance with the ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDING provided under RA 9048 in relation to RA 10172. 

  Typographical or clerical errors in a person's surname must likewise be corrected through the administrative proceeding under RA 9048 (Bartolome vs. Republic, GR 243288, August 28, 2019).

    Misspelled names or missing entries are clerical corrections if they are visible to the eyes or obvious to the understanding and if they may be readily verified by referring to the existing records in the civil register. They must not, however, involve any change in nationality, age or status x x x a prayer to enter a person's middle name is a mere clerical error, which may be corrected by referring to existing records. Thus, it is primarily administrative in nature and should be filed pursuant to RA 9048 as amended (Bartolome vs. Republic, GR 243288, August 28, 2019). 

A person may only avail of the appropriate judicial remedies under Rule 103 or Rule 108 in the aforementioned entries after the petition in the administrative proceedings is filed and later denied.

By "appropriate," the Court holds that if the prayer to administratively change petitioner's first name is denied, the same may be brought under Rule 103 of the Rules of Court. If the prayers to administratively correct petitioner's middle name and surname are denied, the same may be brought under Rule 108 of the Rules of Court (Bartolome vs. Republic, GR 243288, August 28, 2019).

 

A person seeking: 

1) to CHANGE his or her surname; or

2) to CHANGE both his or her first name and surname 

…may file a petition for change of name under Rule 103 (JUDICIAL PROCEEDING), provided that the jurisprudential grounds discussed in Republic vs. Hernandez are present.

Jurisprudence has recognized, inter alia, the following grounds as being sufficient to warrant a change of name: 

• when the name is ridiculous, dishonorable or extremely difficult to write or pronounce; 
• when the change results as a legal consequence of legitimation or adoption; 
• when the change will avoid confusion; 
• when one has continuously used and been known since childhood by a Filipino name and was unaware of alien parentage; 
• when the change is based on a sincere desire to adopt a Filipino name to erase signs of former alienage, all in good faith and without prejudice to anybody; and 
• when the surname causes embarrassment and there is no showing that the desired change of name was for a fraudulent purpose or that the change of name would prejudice public interest (Republic vs. Hernandez, 323 Phil. 606, 637-638 (1996)). 

A person seeking: 

substantial CANCELLATIONS or CORRECTIONS of entries in the civil registry may file a petition for cancellation or correction of entries under Rule 108 (JUDICIAL PROCEEDING). 

As discussed in Lee vs. Court of Appeals and more recently, in Republic vs. Cagandahan, RA 9048 "removed from the ambit of Rule 108 of the Rules of Court the correction of such errors. Rule 108 now applies only to substantial changes and corrections in entries in the civil register."

    If the rectification affects the civil status, citizenship or nationality of a party, it is deemed substantial, and the procedure to be adopted is ADVERSARY.

    Adversarial proceeding under Rule 108 requires that the proper parties be impleaded and that the order fixing the time and place for hearing the petition be published (Refer to Secs. 3 to 5, Rule 108, ROC).

     The persons who must be made parties to a proceeding concerning the cancellation or correction of an entry in the civil register are: (1) the civil registrar; and (2) all persons who have or claim any interest which would be affected thereby. In this case, the civil registrar was properly impleaded (Santos vs. Republic, GR 221277, March 18, 2021).

 A person seeking:

    to have his/her name added (if totally missing) to his/her birth certificate may file a supplemental report with the local civil registry office of the city or municipality where the record being sought to be corrected or changed is kept or where the applicant is presently/currently residing - this is also an ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDING.

An ILLEGITIMATE (NON-MARITAL) child seeking:

    to change his/her SURNAME may file a verified petition (ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDING) with the local civil registry office of the city or municipality where the record being sought to be corrected or changed is kept in accordance with RA 9255.

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