The Philippine Statistics Authority in Negros Oriental is appealing to its clients to bear with the temporary suspension of its regular transactions as its office is still closed after employees tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019.
In an interview with the Philippine News Agency on Thursday, Engr. Ariel Fortuito, PSA-Negros Oriental provincial head and Chief Statistical Analyst, said they shut down their office starting Oct. 18 after a staff member contracted the virus.
They were hoping to resume operations this week but another employee was found positive for Covid-19 thus the main office is remained closed to the public until further notice.
Fortuito said the regular services of the PSA here, such as application for the issuance of birth certificates, death certificates, or the Certificate of No-Marriage are affected. The ongoing registration for the Philippine Identification System continues.
“The registration for the national identification system has not been hampered by the closure of the PSA’s main office as the designated venues in this capital city are separate,” he added.
As an option for those requiring certain documents from the PSA, Fortuito said they should transact with an accredited local Civil Registrar’s Office to facilitate their request and forward it to their office.
“Please avail of the Batch Request System (BReqS) at certain partner local government units while our office is still incapable of attending to your requests,” he said in mixed English and Cebuano dialect.
The BReqS is a scheme where authorized PSA partners can receive requests for documents from the agency, such as copies of birth, death, and marriage documents, among others, he said.
The nearest civil registrar offices here that is PSA-accredited for the BReqS are in Tanjay City and Bais City, Fortuito said.
The PSA-Negros Oriental chief said beginning Friday, his office will cater to the LGUs who will forward the requests to them until normal operations will resume. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)
