TARLAKENYO (Feb. 23, 2026) – In response to the loophole famously exploited by dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has officially implemented stricter requirements on the late birth registration.
Late registration, which applies to any birth reported more than 30 days after the fact, now requires a much more rigorous verification process.
Under the new guidelines, any person of legal age seeking late registration must now personally appear before their Local Civil Registrar. This physical presence is a direct response to cases like Guo’s, in which a paper trail could be fabricated without the actual person ever being vetted by local officials.
The PSA has also made enrollment in the National ID system a mandatory part of the process. By integrating the National ID, the government can now capture biometrics, including fingerprints and high-resolution photos, ensuring that the registrant’s identity is unique and traceable.
The PSA is also focusing on the roots of the registrant. New requirements now include the mandatory submission of barangay certificates and identification documents for the parents.
If the parents are foreigners, their passports or birth certificates must also be presented—a rule that has been in place since a 2021 joint memorandum with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) but is now being enforced with vigor.
The new protocols aim to prevent foreign nationals from obtaining fraudulent Filipino identities, a strategy that previously allowed the controversial former mayor to hold public office in the province.
The “Alice Guo” case serves as the primary catalyst for these updates. Guo, whose Filipino birth certificate was recently voided by the Tarlac City Regional Trial Court Branch 111, was found to have utilized a late registration that went largely unchecked for years.
The court’s decision in late 2025 confirmed that she did not meet the requirements for Filipino citizenship, eventually leading to her conviction for qualified human trafficking in November 2025.
