The NSO said that this was the first time its primers were translated to another dialect aside from Filipino and it was the Southeastern Mindanao office which initiated its translation “to break the language barrier.”
The region comprises the three Davao provinces – Oriental, del Sur and del Norte; and Compostela Valley and the cities of Davao, Digos, Panabo, Tagum, Samal, Mati.
The primers contain information on the right of Filipinos to have a name and nationality, of the importance of birth registrations among tribal communities and among children in need of special protection to avail of government services and protection.
The translated NSO information materials were: Pagpalambo sa Katungod sa Bata nga Makaangkon ug Ngalan ug Nasyonalidad (On the rights of the child to a name and nationality), Unsay Kinahanglan NImo Mahibal-an Mahitungod sa Civil Registration for Indigenous Cultural Communities/ Indigenous People (What you need to know about civil registration for Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples), Unsay Kinahanglan NImo Mahibal-an Mahitungod sa Birth Registration of Children in Need of Special Protection (What you need to know about birth registration of Children in Need of Special Protection), Unsay Kinahanglan Nimo Mahibal-an Mahitungod sa Civil Registration (What you need to know about civil registration), Unsay Kinahanglan NImo Mahibal-an Mahitungod sa Republic Act 9255 (What you need to know about RA 9255), Unsay Kinahanglan NImo Mahibal-an Mahitungod sa Civil Registration for Muslim Filipinos (What you need to know about civil registration for Muslim Filipinos), Unsay Kinahanglan NImo Mahibal-an Mahitungod sa Late Registration of Birth, Death, Marriage (What you need to know about Late Registration of Birth, Death, Marriage) and Unsay Kinahanglan NImo Mahibal-an Mahitungod sa Republic Act 9048 (What you need to know about RA 9048.
Raul Gomez, OIC regional director of NSO XI, said the materials will be piloted in Davao City, in Malita and Sta. Cruz of Davao del Sur, in Kapalong and Tagum City of Davao del Norte, and in Cariaga, and Mati of Davao Oriental. The NSO printed an initial 10,000 copies of the primers.
According to the 2000 census, there are about five million Filipinos who are not registered. In Southeastern Mindanao, whose population is 5.18 million, between 75 percent to 80 percent are not registered.
Gomez said the concentration of unregistered residents is in Malita and Jose Abad Santos.
In Davao City, which has a population of 1.147 million, the number of registered Filipinos is as high as 90 percent.
The NSO, however, said that in Moro-dominated areas, registration is low, at only 20 percent of their population. In contrast, Luzon has almost 100 percent registration, with the Ilocos region posting 100 percent registration.
Carmelita Ericta, NSO administrator, said NSO had seen the need to translate information materials to Cebuano “to reach out and be read and understood better”.
Lourdes Hufana, director of the civil registry department of the NSO Central Office said “the dialect used in the information material proved to have a pivotal role in the people's acceptance on the materials.”
She said the first materials used by the NSO were printed in English but when these were translated to Filipino, “more people realized the importance of birth registration and the number [of registrations] increased”.
She said that “although there are many factors why birth registration is low in some areas in the country, the people's lack of information on its importance is the primary reason why there are still Filipinos who are not registered”.
Hufana said “there are studies made that shows that in areas where there is information dissemination, the number of birth registration is high and in areas where information dissemination is low the number of birth registration is dismal.” (MindaNews)
