BACOLOD City – A 74-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman were among the over 200 couples who tied the knot in a mass wedding ceremony at the Bacolod City Government Center.
“Age doesn’t matter,” said Glaiza Cosme-Tomayao, who exchanged wedding vows with Ricardo Tomayao on Sunday.
According to Glaiza, Ricardo is a “good man” that’s why she fell in love and decided to marry him.
Ricardo – who said he was fond of Glaiza’s “sweetness” – was the oldest groom in the annual event dubbed as “Kasalan ng Bayan,” according to City Civil Registrar Hermilo Pa-uyon.
Ricardo had a first wife who died in 1969. They have eight children.
He told Panay News that he met Glaiza when he was still working as a public utility vehicle driver plying the Mansilingan-Central Market route.
At the time, he said he always sees Glaiza collecting scraps in Barangay Mansilingan.
Ricardo helped Glaiza finish high school. They then lived together and had three children – a 5-year-old son and 11- and 10-year-old daughters.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia officiated the mass wedding, which was a part of the Civil Registration Month celebration in the city.
“The married life is not always a bed of roses. It’s a reality – problems and challenges will come and we should think that they’re not meant to destroy or shake us,” Leonardia told the couples.
Local officials and Philippine Statistics Authority-Negros Occidental head Luis Gonzales were present at the ceremony./PN
