Parents' Marriage Certificate (MC)

[bulakenya 0]

Dear Folks,

I am planning on petitioning my parents from the Philippines. As we were compiling the documents, It dawned on me that my father's last name on their marriage certificate is completely different from his Live/Birth Certificate. My dad's full name on his birth certificate is listed as Antonio Uy Saavedra, but on their marriage certificate, his name is listed as Antonio Uy Morales. The "Morales" is obviously not his real last name and it was my great grandma who suggested all parties to use different last name. I'm afraid this whole incorrect last name will create a big mess if we were to file the petition prior to fixing the mistake. So we've gone to the local civil registrar to identify what we shall do to fix it. We were told (by the head civi registrar) that we must obtain a copy of my grandparents' marriage certificate from NSO, and get at least two (2) copies of his siblings' (my aunt/uncle's) birth certificates also showing the same parents' names & last names Uy/Saavedra, to verify that my father's last name is Saavedra, not Morales. We were able to get a copy of my (2) uncles' birth certificates from NSO no problem. However we were unable to get any copy of my grandparents' marriage certificate and found out they never had it registered in NSO.

The last advise we were given was to go to the local civil registrar where my grandparent's marriage was registered, and we did, but only to be told that almost all of the old documents has been destroyed by typhoon, including my grandparents'. I've also contacted NSO already hoping they might have an at least idea on how to fix this mess but they gave me no answer.

I was told that our last resort would be (via) an attorney, but it would cost us as much as 10k pesos per letter plus the attorney fee. OUCH!!! But I wanna fix the mess my great grandma created nonetheless so that we could start processing for my parents' petition already.

I guess my questions are; How true that my last hope is to hire an attorney? Is the 10k per letter true? And how long would it take from start to finish, I wonder?.

Thank you all in advance for the reply. God bless everyone!

P.S. My dad, mom & all of us children are using the Saavedra (last name) on all of our legal documents.

Edited April 16, 2015 by bulakenya

[apple21 953]

Just curious. How is your mom able to use the Saavedra last name if their MC shows husband's name is Morales? Does she have a passport already?

Edited April 16, 2015 by apple21

[bulakenya 0]

Just curious. How is your mom able to use the Saavedra last name if their MC shows husband's name is Morales? Does she have a passport already?

Hi. Thanks for the reply. No, she doesn't. My best guess is that mom have never had to use their MC on anything. I remember when I got my first Philippine passport long time ago that one of the requirements was the parents' MC. I brought it with me to the DFA but took it out of my folder, and I was just so lucky that the DFA personnel did not ask for it. But with mom and dad applying for one would certainly be different, and difficult if the last name on their MC is incorrect.

I'm even thinking if it's possible to just change our last name from Saavedra to Morales but that'd be even more difficult to accomplish since all of our school records and all are under the name Saavedra.

Very frustrating.

[Greenbaum 12,259]

If it were me.... I would gather all the documents that can help support the originality of both last names. Especially anything that will help in getting the names corrected on all the documents you will need for the interview.

I can tell you can see the complexity and scope of what needs to be done. Remember, you have an elephant on your plate and you will need to eat it one bite at a time. Don't overwhelm yourself. Please return here often to give us updates on what is working and what is not. Would like to hear about the procedures to correct as others may be in the same situation some day.

[bulakenya 0]

If it were me.... I would gather all the documents that can help support the originality of both last names. Especially anything that will help in getting the names corrected on all the documents you will need for the interview.

I can tell you can see the complexity and scope of what needs to be done. Remember, you have an elephant on your plate and you will need to eat it one bite at a time. Don't overwhelm yourself. Please return here often to give us updates on what is working and what is not. Would like to hear about the procedures to correct as others may be in the same situation some day.

Thanks a lot for the great input, sir Greenbaum! Aside from my grandparents' missing MC, I believe that we have enough documents to support the originality of the last name Saavedra, but as for the other one we have none.

Yes, I do. And I agree that this whole process is a giant one and that taking it one at time is the best way to approach it. I just hope that we could find a solution to fix the last name sooner.

Thanks again, sir and I would certainly come back to update everyone about the procedure and the result.

Edited April 17, 2015 by bulakenya