A Name, A Future: Celin’s First Step to Belonging
A Name, A Future: Celin’s First Step to Belonging
In their stilt house along the shores of Turtle Islands, Tawi-Tawi, Celin and her mother Renalyn share their family’s story and dreams of a brighter future.
In a wooden house standing on stilts along the shores of Turtle Islands in Tawi-Tawi, at the southernmost part of the Philippines, Celin, a 12-year-old girl, has spent her childhood with the sea as her constant companion. Each day begins with the sound of waves beneath her home and a view that stretches across the water to Sabah, just 20 minutes away by boat.
From the outside, the house may look slightly bigger than the others around, but her mother, Renalyn, explains that the space is shared with two other families. Yet inside this simple home, there is warmth and tenderness, a place where Celin learns to dream about her future despite the years of uncertainty standing in her way.
Sitting beside her daughter and holding her hand, Renalyn proudly shares their family's story. Her husband, Benhar, works as a fisherman, like many fathers in Turtle Islands, spending long hours at sea to provide for the family. Meanwhile, Renalyn manages the household, preparing meals, caring for their two children, helping with school needs, and making trips to the barangay or municipal hall whenever requirements for ayuda (government assistance) need to be processed.
Yet one task remained unfinished for years: registering Celin's birth.
Despite years without a legal identity, Celin’s love for learning never dimmed. Renalyn proudly points to a photo of Celin’s medals, a reminder of her daughter’s determination despite years of lacking legal identity.
The view from Celin’s home opens directly to the shoreline of Turtle Islands, where the sea has shaped daily life for generations.
Fishing boats rest on the beach of Turtle Islands—an essential lifeline for families like Celin’s, and the backdrop of the community she calls home.
Stilt houses and fishing boats line the shores of Turtle Islands, where the sea provides both livelihood and daily rhythm for the community.
Children gather on a wooden jetty in Turtle Islands, surrounded by the boats that sustain and connect their remote island community.
When Celin was born, her family was unable to secure her birth certificate. The Municipal Civil Registry office was a 45-minute walk from their home, a journey made difficult by muddy roads during the rainy season and scorching heat during the summer months. The penalty fees for late registration added another burden to a family already stretching every peso to make ends meet.
As the years passed, the delay became more than just a missing document.
Despite not having a birth certificate, Renalyn shares how bright her daughter is. She points toward Celin’s photo pinned on the wooden wall, proudly showing the medals and awards she has earned in school. As a curious kid, Celin enjoys learning new things and playing with the other children who live nearby. When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, Celin shyly replies, “I want to be a teacher.”
For years, distance, costs, and administrative requirements kept that dream just out of reach. Then an opportunity arrived in Turtle Islands.
Recently, the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, traveled to Turtle Islands to conduct mobile birth registration. With support from the Government of Japan and working closely with the Municipal Civil Registrar, the local government, and other operational partners, UNHCR brought free birth registration to Turtle Islands, assisting unregistered children and their families in processing their birth certificates, with penalties for late registration also waived.
By bringing the Municipal Civil Registrar and its team directly to barangays and homes through mobile registration, the project also removes the cost and effort for the commute that often discourages families from registering in the first place. This initiative not only makes free birth registration accessible, but also strengthens the capacity of the local government units (LGU) by providing essential equipment such as computers, scanners, and generators to aid the digitization of civil registry records. UNHCR and its partners lead discussions and capacity building sessions with LGU staff and community leaders so they can carry on the program in the coming years.
Through the support of the Government of Japan, UNHCR and partners bring birth registration directly to remote communities in Turtle Islands, helping families secure the documents they long waited for.
A mother stands with her children as she secures the documents they need to access education, healthcare, and a safer future. For the families in Turtle Islands, each birth certificate represents hope passed from one generation to the next.
Along the bright shores of Turtle Islands, Barangay Chairperson Nujum Ismael Putoh speaks about how birth registration can open doors for every child in her community and help them access the opportunities they deserve.
In the farthest corners of the Philippines, UNHCR is working with communities to make sure no one is left behind. With thanks to the Government of Japan, the digital birth registration initiative has reached the remote Turtle Islands in Tawi-Tawi, bringing hope and dignity to populations at risk of statelessness and protecting their rights.
“Ito ang susi para makakuha kami ng ayuda, makapag-aral, at magkaroon ng mga oportunidad para sa amin dito. Kapag wala nito para bang nakasarado lahat ng pinto para sa kinabukasan ng aming mga anak,” (Birth registration is a key that unlocks access to support, education, and opportunity. Without it, it’s as if every door to our children’s future is closed,) said Nujum Ismael Putoh, Barangay Chairperson of Poblacion, Turtle Islands. For her, birth registration is the key that opens doors of possibilities for children in their community like Celin.
When Celin finally received her birth certificate, it was a tangible step toward the future she dreams of. She can now finish school, access essential services, and take confident steps toward becoming the teacher she hopes to be. As the birth registration initiative reaches more communities, more children like Celin will finally be counted, protected, and included. And for every newly registered name, a new future becomes possible: one where no child grows up unseen, and every child has the chance to belong.
Surrounded by her community and the partners who supported the initiative, Celin proudly holds her birth certificate, marking the beginning of a future where she can be fully recognized, protected, and free to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher.
The Ongoing Work to #EndStatelessness
Statelessness is an issue that continues to affect millions of people around the globe. One of the factors contributing to this problem is discrimination embedded in nationality laws, including discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity or religion. In countries where nationality is passed down to children by their parents, statelessness can also be inherited, repeating itself across generations.
With the lack of birth registration, families can be placed at heightened risk of becoming stateless, as a birth certificate often serves as key proof of identity and nationality.
Without this documentation, individuals may face difficulties establishing their citizenship status, which can further shut them out from fundamental rights such as education, healthcare, freedom of movement, and access to basic social services.
In the Philippines, birth registration in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) stands at only 77%, significantly lower than the national rate of 96.6%. Largely due to conflict and geographical barriers, this means that an estimated 1.10 million individuals in the region are at a heightened risk of statelessness.
Through the generous support of UNHCR’s partners, donors and the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, the Initiative for Promoting Digital Birth Registration has been able to reach vulnerable communities in BARMM and Sulu, with the aim to register 30,000 individuals within its implementation period and the long-term goal of reaching an estimated 800,000 people over the next decade.
The Initiative is being implemented by UNHCR Philippines to improve the birth registration rate in BARMM and Sulu. Through funding from the Government of Japan, UNHCR Philippines together with its partners Community and Family Services International (CFSI), Relief International (RI), and UNICEF Philippines, and in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD), Philippine Statistics Authority – Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PSA-BARMM), the Office of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPRU), the Public Attorney’s Office and the 50 priority local government units in the BARMM and Sulu works on strengthening the protection space for the Sama Bajaus and unregistered children within the context of forced displacement due to armed conflict. The initiative also covers decommissioned combatants and their families as part of the efforts to complement the normalization efforts of the Philippine Government.
By strengthening birth registration systems and conducting capacity-building sessions, local government staff and community leaders are empowered to sustain the digital birth registration initiative and reach more families in their area.
Mothers stand together with their children, united by the same dream: that every child in their community will grow up seen, protected, and recognized.
