Just like syringes and diapers, now, in parts of the Dominican Republic, so are birth certificates. According to Hoy, in the Fourth District of Santo Domingo province, birth certificates are only valid for three months, and new ones cost RD$80 pesos that certainly does not go to the government. At the Registrar’s Office in the Fourth District, most business is conducted outdoors on an old wooden table, using a cardboard box as the filing cabinet. Nevertheless, according to the newspaper, the document itself does not say that it is valid for only three months even if it is certified, and there is an RD$80 peso fee for each renewal. In reality, this has turned into a way to raise funds, but the money does not go to the government, but rather, it is administered by the official in charge of the Registry Office, in this case Pedro Pablo Rodriguez. This is the same system in all of the Official Registry Offices in the country. According to Fernando Morillo, a community activist, this “is simply a way to collect money. These are indirect taxes that the people don’t know about.”
According to the activist, the three-month limit on the certificates’ validity guarantees that there will be lines at the Registry Offices. The paper comments that there are at least two good things about the situation. One of them is that the well known “buscones” (those that will get the paperwork done for a fee) are able to provide for their families with the money the get from people who are unable to spend three or four hours waiting in line. Another is the fact that working under the leafy Javilla tree or the blue plastic canvas when it is raining has two good points: one is the fact that the lights don’t go out and the other is that it is cooler outside in the shade than inside the crowded building.