Citys marriage counselors undergo mandatory training to secure license

Posted date: February 20, 2014 In: News | comment : 0

CITYS MARRIAGE COUNSELORS ACQUIRES LICENSE The citys pre-marriage counseling team with the City Population Office as lead agency completes a three-day seminar on Pre-Marriage Counseling (PMC), which is mandatory before they can conduct counseling and attached their signature in the pre-marriage counseling certificate a prerequisite before a couple can apply for a marriage license. In the photo are (sitting from left) PopCom Regional Office Info Officer III Vicky Dela Torre, PopCom OIC Region I Director Erma R. Yapit, City Administrator lawyer Farah Marie G. Decano, PopCom Region I Planning Officer II Maria Velen A. Joven, and City Population Officer Professor Alex P. De Venecia, LLB,DBA. DAGUPAN CITY City hall employees and several other agencies attended a three-day mandatory seminar on Pre-Marriage Counseling (PMC) of the Population Commission (PopCom) Region I office at the city museum from February 17-19 before they can renew or apply for new license as marriage counselors. City Population Chief Professor Alex De Venecia said that through the mandate of an Executive Order, before anyone can take part in the pre-marriage counseling team of the city, aspirants as PMC lecturers and counselors should first undergo a seminar which usually last for five days. It is unlawful for anyone to conduct marriage counseling or to attach ones signature to the pre -marriage counseling certificate without securing first a license from the PopCom. We are fortunate that through the initiative of Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, the PopCom in the region granted our request to conduct the seminar here instead of us travelling to the regional office to secure a license, averred de Venecia. City Administrator Farah Marie G. Decano, acting in behalf of Mayor Belen, delivered her message by enlightening the participants on their perception about marriage. She said that marriage is not all about passion or lust, because after all the preservation of marriage is about the commitment of the couple to stay married for as long as they live. This is something that we should distinguish. Husband and wife decided to take each other not because of what they feel but of the fact that they decided to do so. Desisyon ko ito. Mawala man ang nararamdaman ko sa asawa ko pero dahil sa ito ang desisyon ko then ito ay paninindigan ko. Pumangit ka man, lumobo ka man o kasing lakas man ng motorsiklo ang pag-snor mo, mamahalin pa rin kita, said Decano. Decano talks further on not glamorizing or sexualizing marriage as an exchanged of emotion. She believed that couples cannot sustain such passion forever saying, What would make married couple stay together is their decision to stay together based on the intellect. Theres a difference between a decision based on feelings and a decision based on the intellect. Decano, a womans right advocate herself, cited that one of the common reasons of marriage break-ups is due to the mans infidelity to his wife. Hindi macho ang isang lalaki kapag marami siyang babae bagkus ito ay nagpapakita ng kanyang kahinaan na panindigan ang kanyang desisyon, added Decano.

Applicants for marriage license are required by the government to attend the PMC to provide them with essential information and help them prepare for married life. This pre-requisite to obtaining a marriage license is governed by Presidential Decree 965 which was issued on July 20, 1976 and Article 16 of the New Family Code of the Philippines. Participants received their certificate of training from the Commission on Population on the last day of their training signed by Erma R. Yapit, OIC regional director, which gave the participants the license to conduct PMC in their locality. Yapit said that because of the active participation of the city in the pre-marriage counseling, PopCom will be giving the city one set of desktop computer under the city population office. The agencies who participated in the seminar were the city population office as the lead agency, city social welfare and development office, city health office, city agriculture office, city civil registry office, city nutrition office, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Faith Based Organization, Philippine Mental Health (PMHA), Pangasinan Medical Society (PMS) and the Inner Wheel Club. (jobac/CIO/02-17-2014)