Six months after  Typhoon Yolanda,  some 44,427 survivors  now have their vital civil documents re-established through the free Mobile Civil Registration project launched last month by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in partnership with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Initiatives for Dialogues and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services, Inc. (IDEALS), Philippine Statistics Authority-National Statistics Office (PSA-NSO), local government units and their local civil registrars.

Under the project, ‘Yolanda’ survivors have the opportunity to recover or reconstitute their civil or legal documents such as birth, death, and marriage certificates, among others, which were lost or destroyed during the typhoon.

DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman said that civil documents are  important to  prove one’s identity. These documents are also required in accessing basic services such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens.

The project targets to assist 83,790 individuals from the 20 municipalities/cities in three cluster areas – Ormoc City; Tacloban City, and Balangiga.

Bernard Kerblat, UNHCR representative to the Philippines, said, “Only one month of the project launch, almost half of the target beneficiaries have been served. Given the severity of the disaster and the number of persons affected, where else in the world under comparable disaster could we witness such achievement or result achieved in less than six months after such a huge disaster? Credit goes to DSWD, local civil registrars, and local NGO partners.”

Kerblat said that those who continue to spread  skepticism on government efforts to bring normalcy in ‘Yolanda’-hit areas “should know about the immense progress taking place such as this project, even if much remains to be done.”

Those who still want to avail of the project may proceed to the mobile tents set-up in the three  target areas. ###