FIFTEEN MALE INMATES of the Manila City Jail and their respective partners exchanged vows during a mass wedding ceremony Friday morning.

Mayor Alfredo Lim stood as one of the principal sponsors during the rites.

Bureau of Jail Management and Penology officers, together with city civil registrar Josefa Encarnacion Ocampo and chairman Thelma Lim, witnessed the event.

Ocampo said there were supposed to be 19 couples but the others were not able to participate because they had insufficient documents.
Others did not pass the screening because they were already married to other partners and could not provide a certificate of no marriage (Cenomar), a document saying the bearer is eligible to contract marriage.

After the wedding rites, Lim called on the grooms and brides to continue loving each other and their children as legally married couples.