‘No trees, no marriage license’ pushed in Cebu City

CEBU, Philippines —  Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival has proposed an ordinance requiring marriage license applicants to plant two trees.

The proposed ordinance entitled “No Trees, No License Ordinance” is now pending before the committee on laws, ordinances and styling, and the committee on health for review.

“The increasing number of offspring produced every year is one of the reasons why trees should be preserved and protected because aside from trees being used to build family homes, the number of people who need the oxygen produced by these trees is increasing,” read the proposed measure.

Archival said the measure is timely in support of the campaign of the Cebu City government to plant three million trees within three years to promote the protection and preservation of the environment.

Requiring applicants to plant at least two trees, fruit-bearing or not, before the marriage license is issued is an additional requirement set forth in Executive Order No. 209, series of 1987, or otherwise known as The Family Code of the Philippines, and other existing laws and local ordinances.

The barangay chairman shall issue a certification, stating that the concerned applicants for a marriage license have complied or have successfully planted trees as a condition sine qua non for its issuance.

The Office of the City Agriculture shall be tasked to provide seedlings to the applicants.

The certification issued by the barangay, together with the other requirements, shall be attached to the application which will be submitted to the Local Civil Registrar.

In accordance with the duties and responsibilities enumerated in EO No. 209, the LCR shall issue the marriage license upon finding that the applicants have complied with all requirements of the law including such proposed ordinance, once approved.

The proposed ordinance states that failure to comply with the additional requirement shall result in a denial or non-issuance of a marriage license. — GMR (FREEMAN)