INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
TACLOBAN CITY — Couples who want to tie the knot in a civil wedding in this city have to brace for higher pre-marriage seminar fees.
The city council on Feb. 2 approved on third and final reading an ordinance increasing fees on marriage orientation and counseling.
Under the ordinance authored by Councilor Aimee Grafil, pre-marriage orientation would cost P1,000 from the current P300 fee.
The counseling fee will go up to P1,500 from the current P300.
The special pre-marriage orientation and counseling is at P2,000 from P500.
Under the Family Code, couples need to undergo orientation and counseling before they are given a marriage license.
Indigents are exempted from paying the fees but still have to attend both sessions, which last for about six hours.
“It’s about time to increase the (pre-marriage orientation and counseling) fees which were set for quite some time now,” Grafil said.
The amount collected from the pre-marriage seminars, she said, would be used to pay the honorarium of the members of the marriage orientation and counseling team.
The team is composed of representatives from the City Population Office and members of the city health, and social welfare and development offices.
The team will receive an honorarium of P150 for each marriage orientation and P200 for each counseling session.
Grafil said they would use the rest of the funds collected from the orientation and counseling seminars to buy materials needed during the activities.
The ordinance was set to be signed by Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez and will take effect 15 days after it is published in a newspaper of general circulation.