Civil Registry officer Luis Felipe Rodriguez has run into problems with his superiors recently for managing his offices finances differently from the common practice. As reported in Clave Digital, he works at the 12th Civil Registry Office in Los Mina (Santo Domingo Province) and serves a population of around one million people. He has created a program, “On the same sidewalk” with volunteers from among community leaves, housewives and professionals to reach out to the poor and assist them in obtaining their birth certificates. In 2004 alone, the program succeeded in providing birth certificates for 4,000 persons, using regular funds generated by the civil registry office he heads. For 2005, Rodriguez’s plan was to secure 25,000 birth certificates for those who had not obtained these at birth and were going about their lives in a legal limbo.
Rodriguez’s program, nevertheless has been blocked by the Central Electoral Board (JCE), and this year they have only been able to issue 250 birth certificates. Meanwhile, the justices of the JCE have threatened to fire him. So far, they notified him that he could not continue with the program to issue free birth certificates.
Clave Digital points out that while the JCE rejects the continuing of the program to issue free birth certificates to thousands, they have increased the cost of a stamp from RD$1 to RD$30 and a duplicate of a birth certificate is now only valid for 30 days.
Rodriguez spoke out recently that these are two lethal decisions on behalf of the JCE that makes it even more difficult for the poor to obtain their documentation, while padding the pockets of civil registry officers.
His problems with his superiors began when he told the press that the money citizens pay to get their documents at the civil registry offices goes to the officers of the civil registry, as reported in Clave Digital. Meanwhile, the JCE pays out of its budget for rent, electricity and water services. That is, the officers collect the funds gathered at the offices “clean” every month.