185 COUPLES SAY “I DO”

ALAMINOS CITY—Love filled the air at the Hundred Islands National Park here on Valentine’s Day with almost 200 couples exchaning “I do’s” in a mass wedding sponsored by the city government and the Pag-IBIG Home Mutual Development Fund.

Pag-IBIG, which means love in Filipino, said in keeping true to its name, the agency has been facilitating over the last few years the civil union of unwed couples.

The city government led by Mayor Arthur Celeste, which has traditionally been holding a mass wedding on February 14, and Pag-IBIG shouldered costs of the bridal dresses, banquet lunch, symbolic wedding rings of the couples, the bride’s bouquet and the mini cakes during the event.

The brides wore white malong dresses with a floral headdress like fairies while the grooms wore white polo and short pants with garlands around their neck.

Rey Castro, civil registrar here, said the brides wore malong because it was the easiest wardrobe to wear regardless of the brides’ sizes and frames.

Celeste was the solemnizing officer while top government officials in Pangasinan and from Pag-IBIG Fund stood as principal sponsors of the couples.

Celeste said the mass wedding activity is one way of promoting the Hundred Islands as a major tourist spot in the province.

STA. BARBARA

Meanwhile, in Sta. Barbara town, less than a hundred couples also joined the Valentine’s Day mass wedding.

In this town, part of the wedding activity was tree-planting by the couples prior to the ceremony to make their vows more memorable and to help preserve the environment.—Tita Roces and Johanne R. Macob

BUGALLON

In Bugallon, Mayor Anthony I. Espino administered the marriage rites for unwed couples on Valentine’s Day at the town’s park.

The couples were serenaded by local groups after the ceremony and a mini-concert at the park followed to honor the newlyweds. (Guia Charissa Cerezo)

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