BAGUIO CITY – The Baguio City Local Civil Registry Office reported a decrease of 8.88 percent in marriages that were solemnized in the city last year compared to the recorded marriages during the previous year.
Assistant Local Civil Registrar Allan Abayao said that there was a decrease of 165 marriages or 8.88 percent from 1,858 in 2023 to 1,693 last year.
He pointed out that factors of the reported decrease in marriages in the city may be attributed to changing social norms like increase acceptance of co-habitation without formalizing such relationships through marriage; impact of globalization as interaction with global cultures can lead to alternative view on marriage and relationship.
The assistant department head claimed that another factor would be financial stability associated with weddings and legal procedures leading to children being born before marriage.
Further, Abayao emphasized that individuals prioritize career advancements over marriage considering the need for them to have stable income that will sustain the living condition of their families that they will establish.
Earlier, Proclamation No. 689 issued on January 28, 1990, declared every February as Civil Registration Month in the Philippines.
This year, the country will be celebrating the 35th Civil Registry Month with the theme ‘Building a Resilient, Agile, and Future Fit Civil Registration and vital Statistics System.’
The local government, through the Local Civil Registry Office, in coordination with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), will be conducting various programs in celebration of the Civil Registration Month.
The aforesaid celebration kicked off with a motorcade from the Baguio Convention Center up to La Trinidad, Benguet that was participated by all Local Civil Registry officers in Baguio and Benguet. Last February 4, 2025.
One of the major highlights of this year’s celebration on the scheduled mass wedding for co-habitating couples among persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) with their respective spouses at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) male dorm on February 14, 2025. By Dexter A. See
