Community Tax Certificate

A community tax certificate (Filipino: sertípiko ng buwís pampámayanan) or sédula (from Spanish cédula), also known as a residence certificate, is a legal identity document in the Philippines. Issued by cities and municipalities to all persons that have reached the age of majority and upon payment of a community tax, it is considered a primary form of identification in the Philippines alongside the driver's license and the passport, and is one of the closest, single documents the country has to a national system of identification.

The history of the community tax certificate entails three incarnations dating back to Spanish colonial times. Introduced in a 19th-century reform of the tax system which followed the Revolt Against the Tribute of 1589 which scrapped the system of tribute, as well as subsequent tax reforms, the cédula was issued to all indios or natives between the ages of 18 and 60 upon payment of a residence tax of eight reales or its equivalent in goods, and was paid annually. This tax was later increased to fifteen reales. When the peso fuerte was introduced in 1854, the residence tax became one peso fuerte and seven reales.

The cédula would play an important role in the Philippine Revolution, when Andrés Bonifacio and fellow members of the Katipunan tore up their residence certificates in defiance of Spanish rule during a meeting in Balintawak (present-day Quezon City). This would be known as the Cry of Pugadlawin and signaled the beginning of the Philippine Revolution.

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