SEALED. A Manobo couple kiss each other during the mass wedding for Indigenous Peoples (IP) in Kidapawan City on Sunday (Aug. 18, 2019). A total of 44 IP couples got married in the wedding ceremony sponsored by the Kidapawan local government. (Photo courtesy of Kidapawan CIO)
COTABATO CITY – Leaders of Indigenous Peoples (IP) in North Cotabato on Tuesday lauded the Kidapawan City government for administering a mass wedding for IPs, and for making it a part of the city’s just-concluded foundation anniversary activities.
Datu Camilo Icdang, a Manobo tribal leader, said it was the first time that the city government included a mass wedding for IPs as one of the highlights of the Aug. 12-18 “Timpupo” (harvest) festival and 72nd founding anniversary.
A total of 44 indigenous couples exchanged vows during the traditional wedding rite at the city gymnasium on Sunday, making their marriage legal in the eyes of the law.
"Various IP leaders are glad for the event because they now feel part of the celebration,” he said in a local radio interview.
Icdang, Kidapawan’s deputy mayor representing the IPs, said the 44 couples have been living together for several years as allowed by tribal laws. Some have been blessed with children and grandchildren.
“However, they did not have proof their marriage was legal and are not registered with the local civil registrar so they can be used for legal transactions outside their communities,” he said.
Through the wedding ceremony, he said the IPs will now have legal papers that they can use to avail of government services, such as financial aid through the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
The lack of birth or marriage certificates often impedes tribal families from getting help from PhilHealth when they need medical treatment.
Icdang said the mass wedding also paved the way for the IPs to preserve their tradition and culture.
Mayor Joseph Evangelista, who officiated the wedding ceremony, said the IP mass wedding will be integrated into the city's foundation anniversary celebration in honor of the IPs who were the original inhabitants of Kidapawan.
Icdang said some of the couples were already old since their tradition allows a man and a woman to live as husband and wife, so long as both parties have an agreement and after payment of dowry in cash or in kind, even without documentary evidence. (PNA)
