U.S.

says a civil or religious record was established before age 5,

get it through the Federal Benefits Unit (FBU) in Manila, Philippines as explained in GN 00312.318.

for some reason the record cannot be obtained through the FBU

tell him/her to request that the certificate show the specific date on which the event was registered.

submits a civil or religious birth record which does not show the recordation date and none can be assumed,

get whatever preferred evidence is available. If none is available, get convincing evidence as explained in GN 00302.110 - GN 00302.125.

does not know if a record was made before age 5,

consult the Catalog of Available Records in the Philippines.
 
Request preferred evidence of age through the FBU if the catalog either shows no entry or that records are available.

states no record was made before age 5,

document the file as to his/her basis for this information. Treat the response as “unknown” and develop as shown above if he/she never tried to get a record or did not get a response to a request.
 
Develop for convincing evidence if he/she says he/ she tried to get a record and the custodian said the record either did not exist or was destroyed.
 
NOTE: Assume a “no” response to the public record means the claimant believes that neither a local civil, BRM or NCSO record was made. If the registrar advised the claimant no record exists, assume neither type of public record exists.

Philippines

will obtain the record directly from the local civil registry

tell him/her to request the certificate show the specific date on which the event was registered.