NSO: Same-sex marriages in Baguio City not in the registry

Same-sex marriages such as those conducted in Baguio City last week are not legally binding and these cannot be listed in the National Statistics Office (NSO) registry. According to NSO head Carmelita Ericta, “We checked with our roster of solemnizing officers and we found those who officiated or presided over the controversial same-sex marriage in the city were not listed in our registry." As such, she said these so-called marriages cannot be registered with the NSO. Moreover, she said that one of the most vital prerequisite of a marriage “is that the contracting parties must be a male and a female." “The male and female individuals should have the legal capacity to marry otherwise the marriage will be null and void from the very beginning," she said in an article posted Friday on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines news site. She added that the provisions of the Family Code of the Philippines have not changed. Under the Family Code of the Philippines, marriage is "a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life. It is the foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution whose nature, consequences, and incidents are governed by law and not subject to stipulation, except that marriage settlements may fix the property relations during the marriage within the limits provided by this Code." Article 2 of the Code lists one of three essential requisites for a valid marriage as the "Legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male and a female." Thus, Ericta said the recent same-sex weddings in Baguio City, each involving two persons of the same sex, “would not be legally binding." She also affirmed former Manila Bishop Teodoro Bacani Jr.'s observation that the officiating or solemnizing officer can be held legally liable. A Protestant Church has been officiating same-sex wedding ceremonies in the country, the latest were the reported unions performed in Baguio City. The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), a protestant churches in Quezon City, Makati City, and Baguio City, said it has been celebrating weddings between same-sex couples since the 1960s. In an interview on GMA News TV's "News To Go" on June 27, MCC administrative pastor Rev. Ceejay Agbayani said their church celebrates the ritual for couples because weddings are an inherent right of people who love each other. Talks of legalizing same-sex marriages resurfaced in the Philippines amid the euphoria of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) groups over the recent legalization of gay marriages in New York in the United States. — LBG, GMA News