BACOLOD City – There will be no mass wedding celebration in this capital city this year.
City Civil Registrar Hermilo Pa-oyon said Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez is yet to give his go signal due to the volume of marriage certificates still being signed by the local chief executive as last year’s solemnizing officer.
Some 2,023 couples exchanged vows in March of last year’s mass wedding at the Bacolod City Government Center.
Pa-oyon said nearly 600 marriage certificates, among other related documents, have been left unsigned to date.
The City Civil Registry has suggested to the mayor that the city holds barangay-level ceremonies simultaneous with the village fiesta instead.
The mass wedding is in line with the celebration of Philippine Civil Registration Month, held annually in February. The nationwide activity was institutionalized by the local government through City Ordinance No. 08-15-740, series of 2015, known as the Bacolod City Mass Wedding Ordinance.
Despite having no mass wedding, Pa-oyon said the city will still conduct the free Birth Registration Assistance Project (BRAP).
The Philippine Statistics Authority 2020 survey showed there were 36,586 individuals in this city claiming they had no birth certificates.
Through BRAP, some 19,286 of these are now for verification, while 1,501 have already been registered.
The birth certificate is the “mother” of all personal documents, Pa-oyon explained.
“Our official records emanate from the birth certificate—for the issuance of identification cards, school enrollment, employment, and others,” he said.
The City Civil Registrar encouraged residents with no birth certificate to come into their office to be assisted./PN
