GUIDELINES IN THE ANNOTATION OF CIVIL REGISTRY DOCUMENTS

The Philippine Embassy wishes to inform the public that pursuant to Section 48, Rule 39 of the Rules of Court and the Supreme Court ruling in the case of RP vs. Orbecido III (G.R. 154380, dated October 5, 2005), the Office of the Civil Registrar General issued Memorandum Circular 2007-008 dated 24 September 2007, providing guidelines in the annotation of civil registry documents involving foreign judgments/orders rendered by foreign courts must be passed upon judicially by a Philippine court to prove its validity. These are not self-executory in the Philippines, hence, the following guidelines are hereby adopted in the annotation of civil registry documents involving foreign judgments/orders.

            The guidelines cover the following foreign judgments/orders:

• 1. Divorce by both alien and natural Filipino;
• 2. Dissolution of Marriage;
• 3. Adoption, except inter-country adoption that passed through the Inter-country Adoption Board (ICAB); and
• 4. Other judgment/orders involving civil status of persons

These judgments/orders must be judicially confirmed/enforced by filing a civil action at the Regional Trial Courts in the Philippines (RTC-Phil). The RTC-Phil decisions shall be registered in the Local Civil Registry Office of the city/municipality where the court is functioning.

After registration of the RCT-Phil decision it shall be submitted to the LCRO of the city/municipality where the affected civil registry documents (birth, marriages, etc.) are registered. The decisions of RTC-Phil shall become the basis for annotation of the civil registry documents (CRDs).