1,200 Tawi-Tawi Residents Gain Legal Identity
COTABATO CITY (April 16, 2025) — A new initiative funded by the Japanese government and implemented by the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) will provide free birth certificates to 1,200 individuals in the remote municipalities of Mapun and Turtle Islands in Tawi-Tawi. The program aims to improve access to vital registration services in these hard-to-reach areas.
A joint project with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will aid marginalized communities in 50 locations across the Bangsamoro region.
The remoteness of these islands creates significant barriers for residents accessing essential government services, including the fundamental right to birth registration.
“Limited access to birth registration remains a major concern,” said Sheba J. Jamaluddin, MSSD Mapun Municipal Social Welfare Officer (MSWO). This was shared during a three-day training session for social workers and Municipal Social Welfare and Development Offices (MSWDOs) in Davao City, held from April 2-4, 2025.
“Our role in this initiative is to coordinate the registration process on the ground and advocate for its importance in accessing government support,” she added.
Barbangsa M. Jalaide, MSWO of Turtle Islands, explained that many children remain unregistered because their parents lack birth certificates and are unaware of their importance.
“However, MSSD has built trust within these communities. Now, we can directly encourage parents to register their children and highlight the benefits of legal identity in accessing MSSD and Bangsamoro Government programs and services,” Jalaide said.
The Bangsamoro region aims to register at least 30,000 births between July 2024 and June 2026, a key step in a larger national effort to address a backlog of roughly two million unregistered births. This initiative aligns with the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) goal to register over 400,000 people in the region by the end of 2027.
The PSA-BARMM, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPRU), UNICEF Philippines, Community and Family Services International (CFSI), and Relief International are all providing support for this project. (USM OJT Student: Melody N. Flores, BMN/Bangsamoro Today)
