Obtaining Birth Cert. & CENOMAR in Philippines

The National Statistics Office (NSO) is the government agency who issues certified copies of civil registry services such as Birth, Marriage and/or Death Certificates. It is the same agency who issues Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR) which is a requirement paper for marriage in the Philippines. It is our version of Singleness or bachelor paper. All these documents are printed in Security Papers (SECPA).

Getting it online
For busy people or people who lives outside the Philippines, you can still get your copies thru online. The rates includes documentary stamp tax and delivery charges: by courier (for anywhere within the Philippines) and by Philpost (registered mail by the post office for outside the country). The rates are as follow:

LOCAL (within the Philippines):
Birth / Marriage / Death :  315php/piece
CENOMAR (singleness): 415php/piece

FOREIGN (outside the Philippines):
Birth / Marriage /Death:  20USD
CENOMAR (singleness): 25USD

For those who are interested and wanted to know more, please visit  e-census.

Getting it at NSO
And for the rest who wanted to do it yourself, here is my experience:

1. Go to NSO and ask the guard for the forms that you needed to fill up. The guard in turn will ask you what kind of documents you need and what is the purpose.
      * Please bring your own ballpen to save yourself the hassle.
      * No worry, they have instruction plaster around the compound.

2. You need to fall in line to the same guard to get your "priority number" before entering the NSO premises. It is a first come first serve basis.

3. Inside, take a seat and wait for your "priority number" to be called by the counter personnel. You will be asked to wait again.

4. The counter personnel will call you by your name and will ask you to proceed to the cashier.
      * Please bring some small bills with you to save you the hassle.

5. After your payment, the cashier will redirect you to the "releasing" section. Wait for them to call your name again.
      * Please keep the receipt on hand and they will staple it to your SECPA certificate.

6. Upon release, check the spelling of the names (esp. the CENOMAR). Inform them at once incase there are mistype on the name.
    If none: Congratulation and you're done!
*** Please note that I was born in Manila but now living in the province. The NSO I visited is my province's branch. ***

For the time table:
I was there 7am, their office opens at 8am, and I had my certificates on hand 8:40am.

For the rates, here is what I paid:
Birth Certificate : 140php/piece
CENOMAR (singleness):  195php/piece

Getting your partner's CENOMAR

Our Philippine law requires that we also present our partner's CENOMAR (on top of the 'Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage' document). We do not need to have authorization letter in claiming CENOMAR, however, NSO be asking some informations about your spouse:

1. Complete name of the person
2. Complete name of the father
3. Complete maiden name of the mother
4. Date of birth
5. Place of birth
6. Complete name and complete address of the  person requesting
7. Number of copies needed
8. Purpose of the certification

Important:
* Please be reminded that CENOMAR is only valid for 6 months.
* I was advised before to keep the receipts attached to their respective documents. I am not sure what could possibly happen if you don't, but I did not want to be the one to find out. Hope it helps!