Civil Registration in the process of recording in appropriate registers, events that are birth, death, marriage, annulment of marriage, declaration of void marriage, foundling, legal separation, legitimating, acknowledgement, guardianship, adoption, change of name, naturalization, election of Philippine citizenship, repatriation, civil interdiction, judicial determination of filiations and emancipation of minors. The laws of this country provide that such recording be compulsory
The need for compulsory registration, say of birth, stems from the fact that as society becomes more and more complex it becomes necessary for an individual to establish his/her identity for a variety of administrative and legal purposes. Presently, a child has to submit a copy of his/her birth certificate when entering school for the first time. A birth certificate is also required before one can be married or employed, before one is issued a passport needed to travel abroad, and in complying with several other administrative requirements.
The most common registrable events are births, deaths and marriages, often referred to as vital wvents and recording of these events is knows as vital registration. Drawn from these records are the country's vital statistics such as total number of births, deaths and marriages and other demographic date which from the bases for porgram planning.
For instance, in planning for housing, education, health and water system facilities, population information are needed to determine the demand for such facilities. Manufacturing companies and other businesses in the private sector need population statistics as basis for estimating and projecting demands for their products. Medical researchers rely on health statistics in their efforts to find ways to safeguard the health of the public.
Despite these numerous uses of statistics generated from the civil registration system, many people are not fully aware of the importance of registration beyond what it serves at a personal level. In other words, the uses of statistics generated from registration are rarely seen by ordinary citizens. In fact, there are even those who find no personal use for registered documents.
Realizing the need for taking an active part in bringing civil registration awareness to the people, the office of the civil registrar conducts information campaigns and initiates research studies for the improvement of the system. Among the other activities pursued along this goal are seminar-workshops for the civil registry personnel, hilots, doctors, solemnizing officers, barangays secretaries/officials in one way or another, are involved in the system. To reach the masses specially those who are living in far flung barangays, a mobile civil registration program and barangays civil registration system has been implemented.