Local Civil Registrar Advances Digitalization with Equipment Upgrade and Staffing Boost

The Local Civil Registrar (LCR) Office is moving forward with its digital transformation initiative by equipping all district offices with computers, aiming to streamline public transactions and minimize the need for in-person visits to the central office.

Orlando Alvaira, head of the Adoption Section, detailed the plan during a September 23 interview on Davao City Disaster Radio, stating, "Our digitalization strategy involves outfitting every district office with computers so that when the system is fully operational, all records and transactions will be complete and fully integrated."

Alvaira revealed that the upcoming system enhancements will allow residents to track their document requests online. Future improvements are expected to enable online payments and provide digital filing options, status updates, and notifications. To accelerate the digitization of millions of records, the LCR Office intends to recruit 10 additional personnel specifically tasked with scanning the existing physical documents.

Currently, online access to vital documents such as birth certificates and Certificates of No Marriage (CENOMAR) is unavailable through the city’s system as most records remain in analog form. Alvaira recommended residents to utilize the Philippine Statistics Authority’s PSA Serbilis service for expedited document retrieval.

Complementing these efforts, Councilor Bonz Andre Militar, chair of the Committee on Information Technology, confirmed that equipment designed to convert paper records into digital formats is expected to arrive soon. He explained, "Due to the overwhelming volume of records, manual processing is unfeasible. Therefore, we have procured equipment to systematically digitize all paper documents." Militar also noted that the digitalization platform is currently under development by the Davao City Information Technology Center (CITC).

This advancement is in response to an ordinance approved by the 20th City Council on December 12, 2024, which mandates the implementation of the Civil Registration Information System (CRIS). A recent committee report highlighted the critical need for digitalization, citing the extensive backlog and deterioration of records, including those lost in a fire. The files encompass over 1.35 million birth certificates dated from 1963 to 1989, 624,000 marriage certificates between 1945 and 2022, 702,000 death certificates, and 27.8 million LICD attachments up to 2024.

Officials underscored that additional manpower and new scanning technology are essential to preserving these valuable records and ensuring the efficiency and accessibility of civil registry services moving forward.