A 103-year-old woman from Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental died the night before she was supposed to receive her birth certificate in official security paper (SECPA) from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier this month. Eufronia Pitong Fernandez, who was born on Aug. 5, 1920, was set to become the province’s oldest beneficiary of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) Birth Registration Assistance Project (PBRAP), data obtained by the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Tuesday showed. ‘Mrs. Fernandez passed away on Aug. 9 at 7 p.m., the night before her authenticated birth certificate would have been provided,’ Luis Gonzales, chief statistical specialist of PSA-Negros Occidental, said in a statement. On Aug. 10, the team from the PSA and the City Civil Registry Office (CCRO) went to the Fernandez house in Hacienda Ruiz, Purok 12, Barangay Libacao to award her birth certificate, and it was then they learned of the centenarian’s passing. Still, they proceeded with the awarding rites, where Fernandez’s children, Constancio Meñeza and Mercedes Tico, received their mother’s birth certificate from Gonzales, in the presence of Mayor Rogelio Raymund Tongson and City Civil Registrar Valentina Guancia. Last month, one of the centenarian’s children sought assistance for her to obtain a birth certificate during the mobile registration by the CCRO, with the assistance of a PSA agent. Staff of the CCRO visited her on July 18 as part of the process for the issuance of her birth certificate. A few days earlier on July 13, the PSA also awarded the birth certificate of a 101-year-old woman in the neighboring Kabankalan City. Enriquita Quillano Olitan, who was born on Sept. 5, 1921, received her birth document in the official SECPA at her residence in Purok Narra 1, Barangay Tampalon. The PBRAP, being implemented by the PSA in collaboration with the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the local government units, aims to increase civil registration, especially in marginalized communities such as the indigenous peoples, Muslim Filipinos and the poorest sector to ensure that all births of Filipinos are registered in the Local Civil Registry Offices
Source: Philippines News Agency