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DECODE: Want it simple? Here’s how to hold a civil wedding in the PH

by Leila Salaverria

SO you’ve found the one and you’re ready to spend a lifetime with that special person. But you and your partner want to keep your wedding simple, or just don’t want a religious ceremony to seal your union. 

You could hold a civil wedding instead of a church wedding to make things official. 

By some estimates, church weddings may cost anywhere from P6,000 to hundreds of thousands of pesos, depending on the guest list and the church and reception venue chosen. A civil wedding may cost much less. 

Civil weddings can be small affairs that won’t require the bride and the groom to spend so much money on a fancy wedding dress and a tuxedo, the reservation fees for a church, the decorations, or dresses for the entourage. The ceremony doesn’t even have to be followed by a reception at a hotel or restaurant. 

Though there are couples who splurge on a party after their civil wedding, this is completely optional.

Who can marry

Anybody who is at least 18 years old can marry. But according to the Family Code of the Philippines, the contracting parties “must be a male and a female.” 

The Philippines does not yet allow same sex couples to marry. 

Parental consent 

  • In case both partners or one of them is between 18 and 21 years old, they would need to get the consent of their father, mother, surviving parent or guardian, or persons having legal charge of them, in the order mentioned, for their wedding. The parent or guardian should put the consent in writing and must appear before the local civil registrar. Consent could also be given in the form of an affidavit made in the presence of two witnesses and attested before any official authorized by law to administer oaths.
  • If prospective bride and groom are between the ages of 21 and 25, the law also requires them to ask their parents or guardian for advice. The couple needs to execute a sworn statement that they had sought the advice, and present the written advice when they apply for their marriage license. Should they fail to get the advice or given unfavorable advice, the marriage license won’t be issued till after three months following the completion of the publication of the application. In cases where parental consent or advice is needed, the concerned party would need to submit a certificate that they have undergone marriage counseling. They can get this certificate from a priest, imam, minister, or marriage counselor accredited by the proper government agency. 

Foreigners 

In case one or both parties are foreign citizens, they must submit a certificate of legal capacity to contract marriage, issued by their respective diplomatic or consular officials.

Stateless persons or refugees from other countries may submit an affidavit stating the circumstances showing such capacity to contract marriage.

Getting the marriage license

In most cases, before the couple can hold the civil wedding, they must first get a marriage license from the local civil registrar. Each party should file the application separately.

The application form should include the following details:

  • Full name
  • Place of birth
  • Age and date of birth
  • Civil status
  • If previously married, how, when and where the previous marriage was dissolved or annulled
  • Present residence and citizenship
  • Degree of relationship to the contract parties 
  • Full name, residence, and citizenship of the mother and father, or of the guardian  

The local civil registrar should require the parties to present their original birth certificates. If this is not available, they may present their baptismal certificates.

If either of these are not available, the parties may present their current residence certificate or a sworn declaration of two witnesses setting forth the full name, residence and citizenship of the person planning to get married, and that of his parents, and the person’s place and date of birth. 

Birth or baptismal certificates won’t be required it the applicants’ parents appear before the civil registrar and swear to their proper ages. The civil registrar may also waive these documents if he or she is convinced that either or both of the applicants have the required age upon looking at them. 

If any of the applicants was previously married, he or she will be required to present the death certificate of the deceased spouse or the judicial decree of the absolute divorce, or the judicial decree of annulment or declaration of nullity of his or her previous marriage.

Applicants will also be required to present a valid ID, a certificate of no marriage, a community tax certificate, and a certificate of attendance in a family planning seminar before getting the license. 

Any objections?

Once applications for a marriage license are submitted, the local civil registrar is required to put up a notice with the full names and residence of the applicants, as well as other data.

It will ask all persons who know of any impediment to the marriage to advise the local civil registrar about it.

The notice will be posted for 10 consecutive days on a bulletin board outside the office of the local civil registrar located in a conspicuous place within the building and accessible to the general public.

It is only after the period of publication that the marriage license will be issued. 

The civil registrar will require the payment of prescribed fees, and no additional amount, before issuing the license. But the license may be issued free of charge to indigent parties. 

The marriage license will be valid in any part of the Philippine for 120 days from the date of issue. If it remains unused, it will be deemed canceled upon its expiration. 

Exemptions to getting a marriage license

In special circumstanced, marriages may be performed without a license. This can be done in case either or both of the contracting parties are at the point of death. The marriage will remain valid even if the ailing party subsequently survives.

A license won’t also be needed if the residence of either party is located in an area where there is no means of transportation that will allow them to personally before the local civil registrar.

The wedding  

Once the couple has the marriage license, they must have a marriage ceremony before the solemnizing officer and make their personal declaration that they take each other as husband and wife. They must give their consent freely in the presence of the officer. 

There must also be two witnesses of legal age. 

Who can lead the wedding? 

Any of these figures may officiate a civil wedding, as per the Family Code of the Philippines:

  • Any incumbent member of the judiciary within the court’s jurisdiction
  • Any duly authorized priest, rabbi, imam, minister of any church or religious sect registered with the civil registrar general, provided that one or both parties belongs to the church or sect
  • Any ship captain or airplane chief, but only if one or both parties is at the point of death
  • Any military commander of a unit to which a chaplain is assigned, in the absence of the latter, during a military operation, when the parties are the point of death 
  • Any consul-general, consul, or vice consul, but only betweenFilipino citizens abroad
  • The Local Government Code of 1991 also authorizes mayors to solemnize marriages. The Vice Mayor may also perform this duty if the mayor is not available. 

The marriage certificate

The solemnizing officer is tasked to furnish the couple with the original of the marriage certificate, and to send the  duplicate and triplicate copies of the certificate not later than 15 after the marriage, to the local civil registrar of the place where the marriage was solemnized. 

The officer is also tasked to keep on file the fourth copy of the certificate, the copy of the marriage certificate, and the original of the marriage license. 

The marriage certificate shall contain, aside from the declaration that the parties take each other as husband and wife, the following details: 

  • The fully name, sex, and age of each contracting party
  • Their citizenship, religion, and habitual residence
  • The date and precise time of the celebration of the marriage
  • That the proper marriage license has been issued according to law, except when exemptions apply
  • That either or both of the contracting parties have secured the parental consent or parental advice in appropriate cases
  • That the parties have entered into marriage settlement

Once all of the requirements for your civil wedding are completed, it’s really just a matter of making sure you and your partner are ready to commit your lives to each other before you hold the ceremony. 

This is the most important part, after all. 

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