Philippines Civil Registration (Local) - FamilySearch Historical Records

Philippines

What is in This Collection?
This collection consists of governmental vital records from across the Philippines for the years 1888-1984. The originals are housed at the Bureau of Records Management in Manila. Additional records will be added to this collection as they become available.

Browse the collection in FamilySearch to determine current coverage. For local civil registration records for Metropolitan Manila, please see the collection Philippines, Manila Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records. Records are not available for all localities; the coverage varies by city/locality.

Reading These Records
These records are in Spanish and English. For help reading them see:
 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * Script tutorial for Spanish
 * Reading Spanish handwritten records

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Birth
 * City and province of birth
 * Name, gender, nationality and race of child
 * Birth date
 * Parents’ names
 * Occupation of father
 * Parent’s residence, including street address, city and province
 * Age of parents at child’s birth
 * Birthplace of parents
 * Nationality, race and religion of parents
 * Number of previous births to the mother
 * Legitimacy of birth
 * Date of parent’s marriage

Marriage
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Name and age of bride and groom
 * Bride and groom's nationality, residence and marital status
 * Name of groom's father and his nationality
 * Name of bride’s father and his nationality
 * Name of bride's father and his nationality
 * Maiden name of bride's mother and her nationality
 * Names of the witnesses and their residence
 * Names of the persons who gave consent to the marriage
 * Name and title of person who solemnized marriage
 * Beginning in 1945, birthplace of bride and groom are given

Death
 * Place where death occurred
 * Name of medical institution if death occurred there
 * Name and gender of deceased (Sometimes the death record for a woman will be filed under her married name and not her maiden name)
 * Age given in years, months, days and hours
 * Date of death
 * Cause of death
 * Birthplace and occupation of deceased
 * Name of surviving spouse, if married
 * In what country did deceased have citizenship
 * Parent’s names, including mother’s maiden name
 * Name of informant and their relationship to deceased
 * Name of attending physician
 * Burial information

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Add any new information to your records
 * Make sure to fully transcribe and cite the record entry for future reference. Save or print a copy of the image if possible.  The image citation is available by clicking on the information tab at the bottom left of the screen where you’ve found your ancestor
 * Use the information which has been discovered to find more. For instance, use the age listed in the record to estimate a year of birth.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in the Philippines Census
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate Philippine church and Philippine property records
 * Continue to search the index to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives. Note that family members often appear on an individual's vital records, such as in the role of witnesses to a marriage

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * Church records are also a good source of genealogical information. You should obtain copies of both church records and civil registration, when possible, since they do not necessarily provide the same information. For example, baptismal registers sometimes provide the names of the fathers of illegitimate children when the civil registration does not
 * When looking for a person with a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which individual is correct. Use other information, such as place of birth, age, occupation, or names of parents, to determine which is the correct person. If listed, a personal title may be a clue to property ownership or occupation, either of which might be noted in other records
 * Check for variants of given names, surnames, and place names. Transcription errors could occur in any record; also, it was not uncommon for an individual be listed under a nickname or an abbreviation of their name. See Abbreviations Found in Genealogy Records for examples of common abbreviations. Note that some women used their maiden name when their husband died, and therefore could be buried under their maiden name
 * Vary the search terms. For example, search by either the given name or surname to return broader list of possible candidates which can then be examined for matches. Or try expanding the date range; this is especially useful in searching baptismal records, as it was not unusual for a child to be baptized weeks or even months after birth
 * Click here for a list of Spanish name abbreviations
 * Search the records of nearby localities. While it was uncommon for an individual in this period to move more than about 20 miles from their place of birth, smaller relocations were not uncommon
 * Look at the actual image of the record to verify the information found in the online description, if possible

Research Helps
The following articles will help you research your family in Philippines.
 * Philippines Record Finder

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.

Filipinas, Registro Civil, Local (Registros Históricos do FamilySearch)