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BY MAE SINGUAY
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Wednesday, february 15, 2017
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‘I DO.’ Couples hold hands as they tie the knot during the local government-sponsored mass wedding on Tuesday, Feb. 14 (Valentine’s Day) at the Bacolod City Government Center ground. ARCHIE REY ALIPALO/PN
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BACOLOD City – Mayor Evelio Leonardia encouraged 469 newlyweds on Tuesday, Valentine’s Day, to be happy and strong.
“Once we have strong families, we have a strong society,” Leonardia told the couples whose wedding he solemnized at the Bacolod City Government Center.
He stressed that the family is the basic unit of society.
“Kon malipayon ang mag-asawa, malipayon man ang pangabuhi (Happy couples live a happy life),” said Leonardia. “We would like to see you all [live] happily ever after.”
He commended the couples for wearing wedding outfits even though city hall, which sponsored the mass wedding, did not require them to.
Leonardia said he had been solemnizing mass weddings for 13 years now.
He recalled that he wedded some 2,013 couples in 2013, the biggest number in his career as mayor.
Meanwhile Statistical Specialist II Luis Gonzales of the Philippine Statistics Authority said the local government, in continuously sponsoring the mass wedding, acknowledges that “marriage is a commitment.”
The ceremony was also part of the Civil Registry Month celebration every February.
Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, several Sangguniang Panlungsod members, Civil Registrar Hermilo Pa-oyon, among others, were present at the ceremony./PN
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