Parental ... Advice... Consent... Guidance.. hehehe!

There is this one thing that makes future brides and grooms miserable in their application for the paper works toward the journey of being wife and husband. It is not the marriage license or the dreaded reproductive health seminar at the local health clinic.... It is the so-called parental advice or parental consent.

Well it is not a big thing... since there are certain age limits for this additional requirements. Based from the Family Code of the Philippines:

Art. 14. In case either or both of the contracting parties, not having been emancipated by a previous marriage, are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, they shall, in addition to the requirements of the preceding articles, exhibit to the local civil registrar, the consent to their marriage of their father, mother, surviving parent or guardian, or persons having legal charge of them, in the order mentioned. Such consent shall be manifested in writing by the interested party, who personally appears before the proper local civil registrar, or in the form of an affidavit made in the presence of two witnesses and attested before any official authorized by law to administer oaths. The personal manifestation shall be recorded in both applications for marriage license, and the affidavit, if one is executed instead, shall be attached to said applications. (61a)
Art. 15. Any contracting party between the age of twenty-one and twenty-five shall be obliged to ask their parents or guardian for advice upon the intended marriage. If they do not obtain such advice, or if it be unfavorable, the marriage license shall not be issued till after three months following the completion of the publication of the application therefor. A sworn statement by the contracting parties to the effect that such advice has been sought, together with the written advice given, if any, shall be attached to the application for marriage license. Should the parents or guardian refuse to give any advice, this fact shall be stated in the sworn statement. (62a)
What does the articles mean??? B.S. hehehehe... with all those wordings.. it just means that an affidavit of parent consent is needed for couples aged 18 to 21 ... I don't really know the logic about this one.. but I guess since the law changed the legal age of 21 to 18, there must be this notion that anyone getting married before 21 are still incapable of contracting marriage due to innocence.... Hmmm..... but I guess that is really stupid... Why have the legal marrying age at 18 years old if you still need your parental consent... why not have it by age 21 ... less the stress to marrying couples!

For the parental advice.. the article said that it is not really really a requirement... If no advice is given, the couple will wait for 120 days or 3 months for the issuance of their marriage license.. not the usual 10 days that the local registry process it. Hmmm... This is another requirement that I don't understand but I guess our lawmakers really have something in mind when they wrote this down. Our Filipino community is really big with family and I guess this particular parental advice seeks to prove that we are a family-centric society and that we look up to our parents or guardians for advice.

One or the other my dear future brides and grooms, if you fall under these stated age limits, you will have to follow it ... Absence of this document will make your marriage voidable... The good thing about it; no more annulment procedure... hahahaha... Seriously.... read the requirements very well... To help you... here are some links to get your the format of the form:

Parental consent... for marrying couple aged at least 21 but not younger than 18 (remember the legal marrying age is 18)... if one party is older... you still need it... read the article.. ANY of the consenting party... Click here to view form.

Parental advice... if you are at least 25 but above 21... Click me for your form.

It is good to understand and follow the rules... Do not go with shortcuts... It can fight back you know!

applying for marriage license....

I forgot to blog about this one... Me and Christian applied for our marriage license last 03.19.2010. The day was Friday... Bright and early after my shift I went to NSO first to picked up our birth certificate and certificate of no marriage (CENOMAR). It was a short wait in the NSO since it was still around 7:00 AM. No lines at all... Hehehehe...

After getting the documents, I headed to the Quezon City Hall to meet Christian and file for the application of the marriage license. I got there before 8 AM... The office is still closed... The photocopying booth opened earlier than the offices... Gosh... government offices do suck! I took this chance to photocopy everything so we will not think about it later. I read the print out copy of the message of my co-W@W Gladys of the steps to get the marriage license.

I waited for Christian, who has to go home first to do his business. He got in just in time as the offices open. We went straight to the Local Registry's Office and looked for the window for marriage licenses. The lady behind the counter wrote some info on a piece of paper and instructed us to pay for the fee at the Treasurer's office. The Treasurer's office is where the long lines were. Upon entering the office, it reminded me of why I hate going to government offices... The ladies at the counters just chit chatted away while near to a hundred people waited.

When I got to the counter, it took forever for the lady to write on the receipt... Gosh... talk about old school... No computers at all!!! GRRRRR....

After the payment, we went to the Health Center to get the dreaded pre-marriage counselling certificate ... aka.. family planning seminar. We can already stay away from attending the seminar since we already had our pre-cana seminar from the church. All we have to do is to show a certificate from the church. This is the funny part of all the processes that we have undergone. The lady at the Health Center asked us why the certificate is a plain print out... the print is from a dot matrix printer to make it worse! I told the lady that it is the certificate issued by the church and added that our church is not Manila Cathedral.. it is just a small humble church! It seems that the lady does not trust us at all... She gave us both this scrutinizing look... Christian was actually controlling himself from laughing.. I just kept on smiling. Voila... certificate given.

the pre marriage counselling certificate from the QC health center

Now we go back to the local registry office... had the form notorized.. while waiting for that I noticed the signs in the office... "Birth"... "Death" ... "Marriage"... 3 phases of life that most people go through.. I said most since not all goes through marriage. It is just the simple way of life... We went back to the lady at the booth for the marriage license... and just said to go back on 03.30.10 to get the license and bring 100 pesos... hehehehe..

applied for on 03.19.2010... the next day 03.20.2010 is our 6th anniversary

need to be back on 03.30.2010 and bring 100 pesos...

We were out of there before 9:30... less than an hour and thirty minutes.... Not bad! Well that is one requirement done!