Philippines Civil Registration (Local) - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
This collection of records from local civil registry offices throughout the country includes birth, marriage, and death records created at local civil registry offices throughout the Philippines for 1898 to 1980. Originals are housed at the Bureau of Records Management in Manila, Philippines.

Records are not available for all localities; the coverage varies by city/locality.

Additional records will be added to this collection.

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).

For the most part, the records are handwritten in English. For any written in Spanish, see the section "Help Reading these Records" below.

Record Content
Birth Records usually contain the following information:
 * Province, city and medical facility if birth occurred there
 * Name and gender of child
 * Date of birth
 * Father's name, religion, nationality and race
 * Father's age, birthplace and occupation
 * Mother's maiden name, religion, nationality and race
 * Mother's age and birthplace
 * How many previous deliveries for mother
 * Date and place of marriage for parents
 * Name of priest or informant

Marriage Records usually contain the following information:
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Groom's name and age
 * Groom's nationality, residence and marital status
 * Name of groom's father and his nationality
 * Maiden name of husband's mother and her nationality
 * Bride's name and age
 * Bride's nationality, residence and marital status
 * 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 Records usually contain the following information:
 * City and province where death occurred
 * Name of medical institution if death occurred there
 * Name and gender of deceased
 * 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
 * Parents' names, including mother's maiden name
 * Name of informant and their relationship to deceased
 * Name of attending physician
 * Burial information

How to Use the Records
Some record sets have indexes; these indexes were created at the end of the year. Copy errors could have been made in the index, so you want to find the actual record to verify the information is correct. Using the index is a helpful way to find the actual record.

The information in records is usually reliable, but depends upon the knowledge of the informant.

Regarding marriage and death records, name changes, shortened names, or nicknames may have been used by your ancestors, so pay attention to other relationships (parents, spouse, siblings, children, etc.) that can confirm whether you have the right person/record.

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

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.

Continue to search the indexes and records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have lived in the same area or a nearby area.

Search the Collection
To browse the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the appropriate "Province" ⇒Select the appropriate "Municipality/Town" ⇒Select the appropriate "Record Type" ⇒Select the appropriate "Year Range" which will take you to the images

Look at the image and compare the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

When searching: As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor's given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence, age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

Tips To Keep in Mind
The recording of civil events in a person's life, such as birth, marriage and death, required valid evidence, therefore making these records very reliable.

Until 1889, there was no central civil administration to collect, interpret, and preserve the civil registration records. Most vital records from before 1889 come from Catholic parish and diocesan archives.

In 1889, the Spanish government created the Central Office of Statistics (Central Estadística). This subdivision of the Bureau of Civil Administration (Dirección General de Administración Civil) required each parish priest to periodically give the government a detailed list of the births, marriages, and deaths in his area. Although the Catholic clergy had previously maintained such records and even occasionally submitted them to the government, this was the first time that they had been required to regularly submit detailed reports. This system continued until the end of the Spanish administration in 1898.

After the Philippine Revolution of 1898, the church and state became separate. Within the first few years, officials responsible for civil registration were appointed in each municipality. In 1922, the Civil Records Centralization Act required “all municipal secretaries to submit quarterly reports on all registration matters to the Chief of the Division of Archives.” In 1930, civil registration became mandatory and, in 1932, the Bureau of Census and Statistics was created to oversee all civil registration in the Philippines. It was not until 1940 that most registrations began to be recorded.

The records of birth, marriage and death provides important information of events in a person's life; therefore, it became necessary for legal authorities to record and keep these events in their citizens life, in formal books, for the benefit of civil and personal purposes.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection, see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Related Websites

 * Municipality of Itogon – Registry Office
 * National Archives of the Philippines Brief History
 * Philippines Genealogy
 * FamilySearch Philippines Research Outline
 * Philippine Islands Death Records

Related Wiki Articles

 * Philippines Civil Registration- Vital Records
 * Philippines

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
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Keep track of records where you did not find information about your ancestor so you and others will not waste time looking through these records in the future.

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

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.