Couples in Leyte still regard marriage as God-ordained

TACLOBAN CITY- The sanctity of marriage continues to be upheld by couples at least in Leyte with the Catholic Church praising them as true Christians.

One of them is Paula Rabane and Owen Mabelin, both from this city, who decided to enter into marriage after more than two months of living together.

“We still believe that it is better for couples to enter into marriage so we can have the blessings of the Church and God. Our wedding will just be simple, nothing fancy as we cannot afford to do that,” Rabane, 34, said.

The couple plans to walk in the aisle on December of this year as they are in the middle of things preparing for their scheduled Church marriage.

According to the couple, they will have a simple Church wedding and just go within their means. Both work in private establishments which they declined to identify. They, too, politely refused to divulge how much their budget would be for their marriage.  

Records from the National Statistics Office-Leyte, reveals that there were 7,978 couples who got married last year, 422 of them were in Tacloban. The number of couples who got married in 2010, however, was relatively higher at 8,573. 

And for the first semester of this year, 4,713 couples got married in Leyte, 218 of them in Tacloban.

Records from the Santo Niño Church, the main parish church of Tacloban, shows that 49 marriages were solemnized there last year and 91 in 2011. And of this number, 31 marriages were solemnized under the mass wedding sponsored by the Church.

And as of July of this year, 41 marriages were solemnized at the Catholic Church.     

 Father Amadeo Alvero, spokesperson of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Palo and one of the assisting parish priests of the Santo Niño Church, this city, said that the Church is happy that couples at least in Leyte still remains in the sanctity of marriage solemnized by the Church.

“There are still many couples who indeed believe on the sanctity of marriage because marriage is created by God. God is its Author,” Alvero said.

According to Alvero, Christ instituted marriage as a “sacrament which brings the couple towards holiness and sanctity.”
“Marriage leads the couple to achieve holiness of their lives,” Alvero said.

Judy Borja, city registrar’s officer, said that she is happy that couples continue to believe in marriage.

“In the first place, it is for the couples’ benefits. For one, their children’s legitimacy would be beyond question. The child can use the family name of his father,” she said.

Of course, there is a security on the part of the couple, Borja said.

By Joey A. Gabieta
Staff Writer

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