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When Jonna’s first child needed a certificate of live birth, she finally
Barcelote v. Republic
August 7, 2017 | G.R. No. 222095 | Entries in the Civil Register | Carpio, J.
Petitioners: Yuhares Jan Barcelote Tinitigan, Avee Kynna Noelle
Barcelote Tinitigan, and Jonna Karla Baguio Barcelote
Respondents: Republic of the Philippines, Ricky Tinitigan, and Local
Civil Registrar
RELEVANT DOCTRINE: R. A. No. 3753, Sec. 5 par. 4 provides that in
case of an illegitimate child, the birth certificate shall be signed and sworn
to jointly by the parents of the infant or only the mother if the father
refuses. Thus, it is mandatory that the mother of an illegitimate child signs
the birth certificate of her child in all cases, regardless of whether the father
recognizes the child as his or not.
When it appears, therefore, that the mother did not sign, the local civil
registrar will have no authority to register the birth of the illegitimate child.
If the entries are found incomplete or incorrect, the civil registrar shall then
require the person concerned to fill up the document completely or to
correct the entries as the case may be.
This is different when compared to legitimate children wherein the
declaration of either parent shall be sufficient for the registration of his birth
in the civil register. To reiterate, only in the registration of birth of an
illegitimate child does the law require that the birth certificate be signed and
sworn to jointly by the parents of the infant or only by the father if he
refuses to acknowledge the child.
FACTS:
1. Jonna Barcelote bore a child out of wedlock with a married man
named Ricky Tinitigan. She was not able to register the birth of her
child, Yohan.
2. Eventually, Jonna bore another child with Ricky, whom she named
as Joshua. Again, she did not register his birth to avoid humiliation.
Thereafter, she lost contact with Tinitigan.
3.
decided to register the births of her two children. The Local Civil
Registrar then approved the late registration of the births. However,
Jonna was informed that there were two certificates of live birth,
which are the subject birth certificates in this case, with the same
name of the mother and the years of birth of the children in their
office. The details of the subject birth certificates are the following:
a. Name: “Avee Kynna Noelle Barcelote Tinitigan” and
“Yuhares Jan Barcelote Tinitigan”;
b. Place of Birth: “EUP Family Care Clinic, Holy Cross
Agdao”; and
c. Informant: “Ricky Tinitigan” appears on both subject birth
certificates.
4. Thus, Jonna filed a petition with the RTC for the cancellation of the
subject birth certificates registered by Tinitigan without her
knowledge and participation, and for containing erroneous entries.
5. RTC: In favor of Jonna.
6. CA: Reversed the RTC. The registrations of the children’s births
were caused by the father, Tinitigan, and certified by a registered
midwife. Such registrations did not require the consent of Jonna.
ISSUE: W/N the civil register had the authority to register the subject birth
certificates?
HELD: NO. Since the facts show that the children were born outside of a
valid marriage, then they are the illegitimate children of Tinitigan and
Barcelote. The entry in the subject birth certificates as to the surname of the
children is therefore incorrect since it should have been “Barcelote” instead.
RA No. 3753, Sec. 5 specifically provides that in case of an illegitimate
child, the birth certificate shall be signed and sworn to jointly by the parents
of the infant or only the mother if the father refuses. Thus, it is mandatory
that the mother of an illegitimate child signs the birth certificate of her child
in call cases. The mother must sign and agree to the information entered in
the birth certificate because she has the parental authority and custody of the
illegitimate child.

In this case, since it appears that the mother, Jonna, did not sign the
documents, the Local Civil Registrar had no authority to register the subject
birth certificates. In case the entries are found incomplete or incorrect, the
civil registrar shall require the person concerned to fill up the document
completely or to correct the entries as the case may be; hence, the Court
declares that the subject birth certificates were not executed consisted with
the provisions of the law. Accordingly, they are void and the cancellation is
ordered for being registered against the mandatory provisions of the Family
Code and RA No. 3753.