Gov’t eyes Guinness application for 123-year-old woman in Kalibo

KALIBO, Aklan- The National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC) is studying requirements for the Guinness World Record for oldest living person after validating the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) “late registration” record of 123-year-old Kalibo resident Radigondes Burnasal.

National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC) Commissioner Ricardo Rainer Cruz III on Sunday, May 14 told Rappler in an interview that he and Commissioner Reymar Mansilungan joined Burnasal’s 123rd birthday celebration at her residence in Barangay Tigayon on Saturday, May 13.

They also handed her a P10,000 cash gift.

“We came to know if Lola Bumasal was really 123 years old,” said Cruz.

“Based on the data we gathered, the civil registry record of Filipinos, born in the 1900s, can only be created through the ‘late registration’ system. The Civil Registrar of Libacao, Aklan, registered Mrs. Burnasal’s late registered birth with the PSA, sometime in 2017.”

“Thus, the records released by the PSA, indicating her birth on May 8, 1900, and is still living, is truly awesome,” said Cruz.

The commission will check with the requirements of the Guinness World Records, to see if she is qualified,”  he added.

Bumasal reportedly has nine children. Six of them are still alive.

Why late registration

The Bureau of Census and Statistics was established in 1932, two years after the government ordered mandatory civil registration in 1930.

But registration, especially in rural areas, continued to lag until around 1940, according to the website familysearch.org

In 2020, the PSA said 5 million Filipinos still had no birth records. Even today, tens of thousands of Filipinos have yet to complete their civil registration.

A 2017 report by the Manila Bulletin said that at that time, Burnasal was alert and quickly responded to questions during a radio interview. Her children that time said she still went to mass unassisted. She credited her longevity to eating fruits and vegetables.

Cruz is the cluster head for Regions 4,A, 4B and 5. Mansilungan on the other hand is the cluster head for Regions 1,2 , 3 and the Cordillera Administrative Region.

The NCSC has yet to hire a cluster head for Regions 6 and 7, and 9 and 11.

Guinness record-holder

Guinness in January 2023 confirmed 115-year-old María Branyas Morera (USA/Spain) as the world’s oldest woman living and oldest person living, following the death of 118-year-old Lucile Randon (France).

Morera, who has lived in a nursing home for the past 22 years, according to Guinness, has a Twitter account co-managed by her daughter.

The oldest person recorded was a French woman, Jeanne Calment, who was born on February 21, 1875 and died on August 4, 1997 at the age of 122 years.

The Guinness guide to applications notes that research or historic records: “are sourced from expert consultants and institutions.”

“We do not invite proactive applications for these records, you can use the feedback form to alert us about a new record,” its guide states. – Rappler.com