LINGAYEN—Provincial officials have thrown their support behind priests and pastors in their protest against a national policy requiring them to undergo a paid orientation seminar on marriage laws. The provincial board of Pangasinan passed a resolution last week urging the National Statistics Office (NSO) to withdraw its memorandum circular, issued in November 2007, requiring Catholic priests and pastors from other religious organizations to take the seminar before they can obtain a license to solemnize weddings.

Board Member Von Mark Mendoza, author of the resolution, said they “expect a backlog of province mates wanting to get married if this NSO memorandum is not recalled”.

“The requirement being imposed by the NSO on priests and pastors appears to have been conceptualized without a thorough evaluation of its repercussions on the work load schedule and economic status of priests and pastors,” Mendoza said.

The NSO office in the province had no comment on the recent move of the provincial board.

In December, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz denounced the NSO memorandum in a pastoral letter, calling the requirement a “crazy scheme” of the government.

Cruz said about 60 priests under him will gradually stop solemnizing marriages in all churches and chapels due to this “very stupid, idiotic money making scheme of the government”.

Under the NSO memo, those who will take the seminar are required to pay P900 to P2,400 each annually when renewing their government-issued authority to solemnize weddings.

Cruz said priests do not need to undergo seminars on solemnizing marriages because they have been taught about Church laws on marriages during their seminary training.

He added that civil

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