Preamble
WHEREAS, government surveys reveal that every year twenty five to forty per cent of all births and deaths occurring in the Philippines are not registered in the office of the local civil registrar as required by Act 3753; WHEREAS, this big number of under-registration adversely affects the program of government in promoting the health and social conditions of the people especially the youth because of difficulty in gathering complete vital statistics due to the under-registration of births and deaths; WHEREAS, to provide primary sources of vital statistics for use in various population studies in order to formulate more effective health and social plan for the country, the immediate registration of unregistered births and deaths is imperative; WHEREAS, this will be another landmark in the continuing efforts of the government to improve the social conditions of the people with the aid of accurate vital statistics, and is in line with the observance of the 1974 world population year; NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution do hereby order and decree that all births and deaths that occurred within the period starting January 1, 1974 to the date when this decree becomes effective, but were not registered, and those that will occur thereafter, shall be registered in accordance with the following procedures: