Baptismal certificate—Instrument in lieu thereof.
Section 8
SEC. 8. Baptismal certificate—Instrument in lieu thereof.—The municipal secretary or clerk of the Municipal, Court of the City of Manila, as the case may be upon receiving such application, shall require the exhibition of the original baptismal or birth certificates of the contracting parties or copies of such documents duly attested by the persons having custody of the originals. These certificates or certified copies of the documents required by this section need not be sworn to and shall be exempt from the documentary stamp tax. The signature and official title of the person issuing the certificate shall be sufficient proof of its authenticity. If either of the contracting parties is unable to produce his baptismal or birth certificate or a certified copy of either because of the destruction or loss of the original, or if it is shown by an affidavit of such party or of any other person that such baptism birth certificate has not yet been received though the same has been requested of the person having custody thereof at least fifteen days prior to the date of the application, such party may furnish in lieu thereof an instrument drawn up and sworn to before the clerk of the Municipal Court of Manila or before the municipal secretary ccncerned or any public official authorized to solemnize marriage. Such instrument shall contain the sworn declaration of two witnesses of lawful age, of either sex, setting forth the full name, profession, and residence of such contracting party and of his or her parents, if known, and the place and date of birth of such party. The nearest of kin the contracting parties shall be preferred as witnesses, and in their default persons well known in the province or the locality for their honesty and good repute. The exhibition of baptismal or birth certificates shall not be required if the parent; the contracting parties appear personally before the municipal secretary or before the clerk of the Municipal Court of Manila, as the case may be, and swear to the correctness of the age of said parties.