THE 20th City Council of Davao has approved on the third and final reading an ordinance to digitalize the city’s Local Civil Registry (LCR) through the Civil Registration Information System (CRIS) online. The measure was passed during the council’s session on Thursday morning, December 12, 2024, at the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
Proposed by Councilor Bonz Andre A. Militar, chairperson of the Committee on Information Technology, the ordinance seeks to simplify and streamline civil registry processes by utilizing CRIS. The system will process documents from partner institutions, automate the assignment of unique registry numbers, and eliminate the possibility of duplication. According to the ordinance, the City Information Technology Center will develop the system, which will be accessible to the public through a designated application or website. Residents will be able to request certified copies of civil registry documents from home, ensuring convenience while complying with the data privacy policies of the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Davao.
Funding for the digitalization project will come from the annual or supplementary budget of the City Government of Davao while recurring expenses for maintenance and operations will be covered by the annual budget of the City Civil Registrar’s Office.
A committee report revealed significant challenges in scanning and preserving civil registry records, especially those damaged in a fire at the LCR. The backlog includes civil registry records dating back to 1945, with more than 1.35 million birth certificates from 1963 to 1989, 624,000 marriage certificates from 1945 to 2022, 702,000 death certificates from the same period, and 27.8 million LICD attachments up to 2024 still requiring digitization.
To address these issues, additional manpower and new document scanners will be necessary to expedite the scanning process and convert the remaining hard-copy records into electronic data.
Once fully implemented, the digitalization of the LCR is expected to improve efficiency, reduce delays, and provide Davao City residents with greater convenience and accessibility to their civil registry records. RGP
