Marrying in the Philippines

In order for a Filipino to marry a foreigner, he or she must prepare him/herself with different document preparations. A process that will take time in terms of financial, effort, and patience.

Just like for me, I am a Filipino and I married a foreigner. We set our marriage in the Philippines following the procedures mandated by the Philippine Municipal Registry Office. Right after she said the word "yes" to our engagement, I immediately worked on the requirements for our marriage. 



These are the steps that we have been through...

I went to our Municipal Registry office  and inquired on the procedures (my mum also accompanied me). They required the following:

• Birth Certificate  issued by the National Statistics Office (PSA) - from groom's side.
• Her Malaysian Birth Certificate and it must be translated to English - from bride's side. She also presented her translated birth certificate accompanied with a Commissioner on Aath to notarize the said document. She paid RM5 per document (this depends on the state rates).
• Certificate of Family Planning and Marriage Counseling which we had acquired in another municipality (La Trinidad). This is a session where the couple will be exposed on the various aspects of building a family. It will tackle family planning, spiritual life as a married couple, proper parenthood (responsibilities of the husband and wife), health issues especially when the wife is pregnant and others. In our case, the DSWD staff centered the talk on the Republic Act 9262 - Anti Violence Against Women and Children. There is no age limit for Family Planning. However, couples 24 years and below need to attend Family Planning sessions and Marriage Counseling. These sessions are scheduled for one-half day within the premises of the Municipal Hall. An approximate payment of 100-300 PHP is expected here.
• Application Form to be signed in front of the Civil Registry Officer (don't worry, they will guide you on how to fill up the form). 
• Certificate of Legal Capacity to Marry issued by the respective Diplomatic or Consular Officials of the foreign wife or husband. For this case, my wife had to go back to Malaysia via Malaysia Airlines to obtain her 'Singleness Cert' issued by Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) in Putrajaya (about RM5 payment) and the "Singleness Cert" shall be certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia costing RM10). After her arrival to the Philippines, she went to her Embassy in Makati to submit her Certificate of Singleness in order to obtain the Certificate of Legal Capacity (she spent around 300 PHP in her Embassy).
• For me, I went to NSO and requested for my Certificate of No Marriage or CENOMAR. I paid 140 PHP and additional pay for documentary stamps (actually documentary stamps were not necessary).

So after completing all the requirements, my wife and I went to the Civil Registry Office to fill up the form and submit all the necessary documents for our wedding. We filed the document last September 2, 2015 and acquired the Marriage License on September 18, 2015.

After the Municipal Civil Registry Office, we got the copy and presented it to the church (Catholic Church) and inquired on the requirements for a church wedding. These are the steps we went through:

• Interview with the parish staff. We went through an interview on a one-on-one basis by the church staff. The purpose is to make sure that the couple is ready to what they are entering into.
• Lecture on Sacraments. This was initiated by my previous high school teacher, lecturing us on the seven sacraments. We also submitted our Baptismal Certificates.
  
• Lecture on the rite of Marriage.
• Fee of 1,500 PHP. This is to cover all procedures in the documentation for your wedding, especially on the legal aspect with the Civil Registry. The payment is dependent on the location to where the church wedding is set.
• Setting the date. This is very important to let the churchbook the date of your marriage. All pertaining requirements like the church choir, the priest and others will be notified by the church so that everything is ready on your big day.
• I went through a confirmation. In every Catholic wedding, one must be at least a Catholic. But for us, our wedding was mixed marriage as my wife belongs to the Charismatic Church (also Christian).
• Start to prepare your church paraphernalia - vow booklet, candles, bible, rings, arrhae,  entourage, invitations, wedding coordinator, and others.
• We did all our church seminars and lectures almost four times because we had to set appointments with the church.