Civil registration outlet now serves Agusan Sur
By Kelvin Kennt R. Generalo
PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur -- The country’s 67th outlet of the Civil Registry System (CRS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the 4th in the Caraga region is now operational, bringing its frontline services nearer to the residents of Agusan del Sur.
The facility was inaugurated at Gaisano Capital, Barangay 4, San Francisco, Agusan del Sur on February 14.
The ceremonial ribbon-cutting was led by Assistant National Statistician for Civil Registry Services Maritza B. Grande, along with PSA Caraga Officer-in-Charge Guillermo M. Lipio Jr.; Cristina O. Callao, UniSys regional operations lead in Mindanao; and Demetrio T. Dejolde Jr., provincial chief statistical specialist.
Before this, the nearest CRS outlet for the province of Agusan del Sur was in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte.
Residents, especially those from Veruela, the farthest municipality in the province, had to travel approximately 5 hours to Butuan City—a costly and time-consuming journey to process and claim the civil registry documents.
The opening of the new CRS-PSA outlet in San Francisco will greatly benefit the people of Agusan del Sur and neighboring provinces by making it easier for them to obtain the civil registry documents.
Grande expressed her joy in celebrating this milestone with the people of Agusan del Sur. She emphasized that the new CRS outlet will provide a more accessible and cost-effective way for clients to obtain the documents they need. “It is one of PSA's visions to bring our services to all provinces. Our CRS Information Technology Project Phase 2 aims to establish 81 outlets nationwide. Once this is completed, we will continue to open outlets in provinces not initially included in the project,” she said.
"The services available at the central office in Manila or any other province will also be accessible here in Agusan del Sur,” she added.
The CRS-PSA San Francisco outlet offers the following services: issuances of Birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates; issuance of Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR) and Certificate of No Death (CENODEATH); authentication of documents and other civil registry services at regular PSA rates, with no additional fees.
Also, Dejolde shared the rationale behind choosing San Francisco as the location for the new CRS outlet. "We saw that the municipality of San Francisco is a strategic location because it is the nearest area for Surigao del Sur and portions of Davao de Oro. Residents from these places will likely come to San Francisco to process their documents,” he said.
One of the first clients, Remedios Nacario from San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, expressed her gratitude for the new CRS-PSA outlet. "I am happy because I live here. Thanks to this initiative, our residents, especially the students and job seekers, will no longer struggle to process and claim their civil registry documents. We are very thankful to the local government of San Francisco for requesting PSA to establish an office here in the town,” she shared.
On the day of the opening, Remedios canceled her trip to PSA Butuan City to process a death certificate as she was able to do it real-time in her municipality.
The CRS-PSA outlet in San Francisco can accommodate more than 100 clients per day. Currently, walk-in clients are accepted, and in the pipeline is to introduce the online appointment system to better serve its clientele. (KKG, PIA-Agusan del Sur)
