As I write this, there are 10,016 new active cases of COVID-19 nationwide. That’s 10,016 reasons to stay at home and limit our movements to only to the most essential and urgent. Minors, seniors, and those with underlying health conditions (diabetes, weak lungs, asthma, history of stroke, and the like) must stay at home. And at the first sign of a COVID-19 symptom, have yourself tested and isolate until you feel better.
If you still don’t know it, you can have your PSA documents such as your birth certificate, marriage certificate, and CENOMAR ordered online and delivered to you. Here in Metro Manila, PSA offices operate on reduced capacity (skeleton workforce) and therefore, can only accommodate so much foot traffic (up to 700 only at the East Avenue branch). So, if you need copies of your civil registry documents while on lockdown (for school enrollment, passport application, claims, job applications, etc.), just order it online and have it delivered to your home.
Here’s how:
- Logon to www.psahelpline.ph and choose the type of document you wish to order. You can order multiple copies of the same document in one transaction. But if you need to order one copy of two different documents (one birth certificate and one CENOMAR), you have to make two transactions.
- Pay for your ordered documents. PSAHelpline.ph has various payment channels you can choose from:
- Online payments:
- Credit cards
- GCash
- PayMaya
- Over-the-counter payments:
- 7-Eleven
- Bancnet ATMs
- DragonPay
- Online payments:
- Wait for the delivery of your documents. Metro Manila orders take 3 to 4 business days to complete with provincial orders take 7 to 8 business days. Take note that due to the reduced capacity in PSA offices, there may be delays in the processing of your documents. That is still so much better than leaving your home and risking exposure to the virus.
Birth certificates, marriage certificates, and death certificates cost P365.00 each while a CENOMAR costs P420.00 per copy. This already includes processing and shipping fees so it is really economical to just have the documents delivered.
And even after the lockdowns are once again lifted, ordering your essentials online and having these delivered to you would still be the most prudent thing to do to keep yourself safe from the virus. Remember to always act like you already have the virus and you don’t want to be responsible for other people catching it.
At this point, everybody is asymptomatic. So, stay at home, follow minimum health protocols, and patiently wait until it is safe to start moving outside again.
Stay safe, everyone!