Dear Atty. Duran-Schulze,
I have a problem. My husband’s mother instructed her midwife to submit the birth certificate of my husband. However, my husband’s mother also submitted another birth certificate containing a different name a few days later.
Now, I’m married to his name following the birth certificate given by my mother-in-law but when we checked his latest PSA birth certificate, the name in there was the one submitted by the midwife. This birth certificate has my husband’s misspelled first name and missing his second name. I’m planning to file a case against him for cheating, does this issue factor in? Can this show my marriage to be null and void?
Dear Nila,
Was the midwife authorized by your mother-in-law to submit the birth certificate? If yes, then the birth certificate submitted is valid and effective.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) provides those who can apply for a person’s birth certificate:
- The concerned person himself, or any person authorized by him
- His spouse, his parent or parents, his direct descendants, or guardian of institution legally in-charge of him, if he is a minor
- The court or proper public official whenever absolutely necessary in administrative, judicial or other official proceedings to determine the identity of the child’s parents or other circumstances surrounding his birth- and
- In case of a person’s death, the nearest relative or kin.
The filed birth certificate of the authorized midwife shall be followed. Under the PSA Memorandum Circular No. 2019-23, in case of multiple birth records, the first or earlier date of registration shall prevail and must be issued to the client. As a rule, all vital events shall be registered once and must be recorded in the appropriate register to become the official record of the document owner.
If your husband wants to change the first name and correction of minor clerical errors, this can be done through an administrative petition with the Local Civil Registrar of the place of birth or residence, under Republic Act No. 9048, as amended by Republic Act No. 10172.
On the other hand, for substantial errors such as errors on gender and sex change, there is a need for an adversarial proceedings by filing a petition to effect the changes. If it is a cancellation or correction of entries involving birth, this can be done by filing a petition for the cancellation or correction of entries of the civil registry records under Rule 108 of the Rules of Court. The cancellation or correction can be allowed upon good and valid grounds.
Your marriage shall not be affected by this. Your marriage remains legal and valid. Only cases of marriage contracted by any party below 18 years of age; solemnized by any person not legally authorized to perform marriages, unless one or both parties believed in good faith that the solemnizing officer had the legal authority to do so; solemnized without a license, except as otherwise provided; bigamous or polygamous marriages; marriages contracted through mistake of one of the parties as to the identity of the other; subsequent marriages that are void under Article 53 of the Family Code; and those contracted by a party who at the time of the marriage was psychologically incapacitated, are deemed void marriages.
Do you have any further questions that need to be addressed? Talk to our team at Duran & Duran-Schulze Law to know more.
You may reach us at (+632) 8478 5826 or email info@duranschulze.com for more information.