ILOILO City – The City Population Office (CPO) will hold a free mass wedding for 62 couples on June 19.
The wedding will be officiated by Mayor Jose Espinosa III at the Ker & Co. Building beside the city hall at 3 p.m.
“The primary objective of this is to legalize and strengthen the union of unmarried couples in Iloilo City and at the same time promote, preserve and protect the family,” said City Population Program Officer II Rachelle Lapascua.
Prior to the wedding, the couples would be required to plant trees in line with the city government’s regreening program.
According to Lapascua, the couples already underwent pre-marriage counseling at the CPO.
“These couples living together without the benefit of marriage already have children. They are finding it hard to have their children enrolled in school because they have no marriage certificates to present,” said City Population Program Officer II Florence Galanto said.
Some find it hard to have their children baptized in church because they do not have marriage certificates, she added.
For this mass wedding, the city government will provide the rings.
The city government has scheduled another mass wedding in August as part of the Iloilo City Charter Day celebration. (Merianne Grace Ereñeta, Iloilo City PIO/PN)
