Philippines Civil Registration (National) - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
This collection includes civil marriage and death records for 1945 to 1996.

Record Description
Marriage and Death records are in English for the most part. A few of the earlier marriage records are in Spanish. Spanish is also used in sections of later records.

Record Content
Most marriage records and marriage certificates (also called marriage contracts) contain the following: • Husband’s name • Wife’s name • Date and place of the marriage • Names of the husband’s parents • Names of the wife’s parents • Names of the witnesses • Names of the persons who gave consent • Name of the person who solemnized the marriage • Beginning in 1945, birthplace of the husband and wife • Date of the marriage license • Date of the certificate (marriage contract)

Most death records contain the following: • Name of the deceased • Name of the surviving spouse • Date and place of death • The date and place of burial (cremation or removal) • Name of the informant • Name of the attending physician • Name of the undertaker • On death certificates after 1958, names of the father and mother • On death certificates after 1958, the birth date and birthplace of the deceased • Date of the certificate or the date the certificate was filed by the local civil registrar • Date of burial or transit permit

How to Use the Record
These registrations are the best source for locating the date and place of an ancestor’s marriage or death. The marriage records may also include information about the ancestor’s parents. You can use this information to help extend the lineage. Use place information to search for other records with genealogical content. Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Name indexes to marriages make it possible to access a specific marriage record quickly. Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

When searching the index it is helpful to know the following:

• The county where the marriage occurred.

• The name of the person at the time of marriage.

• The approximate marriage date.

• The marriage place.

• The name of the intended spouse.

Use the locator information found in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the marriage records. Compare the information in the marriage record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

When you have located your ancestor’s marriage record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

For example:

• Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information.

• Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names.

• Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in census records.

• Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.

• Occupations listed can lead you to employment records or other types of records such as military records.

• Use the parent’s birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.

• The name of the officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the county. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties.

• Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom, this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.

• Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.

• Use the marriage number to identify previous marriages.

• When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Keep in mind:

• The information in marriage records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.

• Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1900.

• There is also some variation in the information given from one marriage record to another record.

If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, try the following:

• Check for variant spellings of the surnames.

• Search for the marriage record of the marriage partner if known.

• Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume.

• Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.

Record History
In 1901, the Philippines passed a law that established local civil registry offices. These offices were to record the events of birth, marriage, and death. This collection contains marriage records and death records from several cities in the Philippines. In 1945, changes in the law required more information to be recorded. The records are in English and Spanish.

Why This Collection Was Created
The recording of birth, marriage or death provides important information in a person's life, which become necessary for legal authorities and personal purposes.

Record Reliability
The recording of civil events in a person's life, such as birth, marriage and death, require valid evidence, therefore making these records very reliable.

Related Web Sites
This section of the article is incomplete. You can help FamilySearch Wiki by supplying links to related websites here.

Related Wiki Articles
Philippines Civil Registration-Vital Records

Sources of information for This Collection
“Philippines Civil Registration,” database, FamilySearch (https//:familysearch.org); from the National Census and Statistics Office, Philippines." Digital copies of originals housed in different Provincial Archive Services throughout the Philippines. FHL microfilm, 851 reels. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.  Digital copies of originals housed in different provincial archives throughout the Philippines.  The suggested format for citing FamilySearch Historical Collections is found in the following article: How to Create Source Citations for FamilySearch Historical Records Collections  

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should also list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Examples of Sources Citations for a record in This Collection
• United States. Bureau of the Census. 12th census, 1900, digital images, From FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: September 29, 2006), Arizona Territory, Maricopa, Township 1, East Gila, Salt River Base and Meridian; sheet 9B, line 71.

• Mexico, Distrito Federal, Catholic Church Records, 1886-1933, digital images, from FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: April 22, 2010), Baptism of Adolfo Fernandez Jimenez, 1 Feb. 1910, San Pedro Apóstol, Cuahimalpa, Distrito Federal, Mexico, film number 0227023.