TARLAC City - Couples cannot get married in this city unless they plant a tree.
In an apparent move to save the environment, and to ensure "people's participation" in the drive to replenish the dwindling number of trees, the city government here has passed an ordinance requiring every couple seeking to secure a marriage license to plant at least one tree seedling first.
Mayor Gelacio Manalang said that the process is simple and the requirement is not really burdensome.
The city population commission (PopCom) informs couples who want to get married about their "new responsibility to both their children and the environment," aside from undergoing the usual government-sponsored seminars on sex education, responsible parenthood and family planning.
As couples process their marriage documents, a representative from the city environment office (Cenro) provides various tree seedlings from which the husband-and-wife-to-be can choose from. The seedlings come from this city's seedling nursery maintained by the Cenro.
The seedlings should be planted either in the couple's backyard, or anywhere near their home in their respective neighborhoods.
Two to three days before the wedding ceremony, a representative from the PopCom checks if the couples have indeed planted the tree seedlings. Should they fail to do so, PopCom may recommend the postponement of the nuptials or the withholding of their marriage license by the city civil registrar's office.
Employees at the PopCom office and those at the Cenro said some couples take as many as five seedlings, if only to show that they are eager to save the environment for the future of their children.
According to Manalang, although the new law was warmly welcomed even by the local government group Save The Earth Movement (STEM), it still needs proper "post-marriage monitoring."
Cesar Espinosa, chair of the city Association of Barangay Chairmen (ABC), said that tapping village officials can indeed make the local law's implementation successful.
He further suggested that the PopCom and Cenro should closely coordinate with village officials, even at least with the ABC's office at the city hall, both in the planting and nurturing of the tree seedlings.