Short answer. Yes, for a change of first name. Section 5 requires the petitioner to submit a certification from the appropriate law enforcement agencies that he has no pending case or no criminal record. A petition merely correcting a clerical error carries no such requirement.
What the law says
Furthermore, the petitioner shall submit a certification from the appropriate law enforcement agencies that he has no pending case or no criminal record.
RA 9048, Section 5 — Form Contents And Publication. Read the full provision →
What the law says
In addition, the petition shall be published at least once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation.
RA 9048, Section 5 — Form Contents And Publication. Read the full provision →
It attaches to one petition, not both
Furthermore, the petitioner shall submit a certification from the appropriate law enforcement agencies that he has no pending case or no criminal record. The sentence sits in the paragraph dealing with a change of first name or nickname, alongside the publication requirement, and the words in addition and furthermore mark both as extras layered on the ordinary documents. Someone correcting a misspelling does not need a clearance. Someone changing the name he goes by does. Knowing which petition you are filing therefore decides whether you spend the time and the fee obtaining one.
The Act does not name the agency
It says the appropriate law enforcement agencies, in the plural and without naming any. That is deliberate drafting rather than an oversight, since which clearance is appropriate depends on where you live, where you have lived, and whether you are filing at a consulate abroad. The practical consequence is that the list comes from the office receiving the petition, not from the statute. Ask the registrar or the consular post which certifications it accepts and how recent they must be, before paying for one that turns out to be the wrong one or to have gone stale.
Why the requirement exists
Pair it with its companion: In addition, the petition shall be published at least once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation. Both address the same risk from opposite directions. A change of first name alters the name under which the world can find a person, and the obvious abuse is someone shedding an identity that a creditor, a complainant or a prosecution is attached to. Publication lets those people object. The clearance asks the State's own records the same question before the change is allowed.
If you cannot obtain one
The section makes the certification part of what must support the petition, and it does not spell out what happens to a petitioner who has a pending case or a record. It does not say in terms that such a person may never change his first name — but the administrative route as written expects the certification, so a person who cannot produce it should not assume the counter will proceed. That is a situation to take to counsel before filing rather than after, particularly given that Section 3 permits these petitions to be availed of only once.
One amendment to check before you file
Republic Act No. 10172 (2012) amended this Act after the text quoted above was enacted. It extended the same administrative route to the day and month of the date of birth and to the sex entry, neither of which the 2001 text allowed, and it set additional requirements for petitions of that kind. Nothing here sets out what those added requirements are. If what you want corrected is a birth date or the sex entry rather than a name or a misspelling, treat the procedure described above as the starting point only, and check the amended provisions before you prepare anything.
Related provisions
- RA 9048, Section 3 — Who May File And Where
- RA 9048, Section 4 — Grounds For Changing First Name
- RA 9048, Section 5 — Form Contents And Publication
- RA 9048, Section 6 — Posting Decision And Transmittal