MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – History was made yesterday when two same-sex couples were officially married at Manila’s City Hall in the Philippines, a country whose population is 80% Catholic.
Maria Arlyn Ibanez and her partner Joanne Reena Gregorio joined Pastor Crescencio Agbayani and his partner Marlon Pelipe in trooping to a civil registry office in Manila, to obtain a marriage license. “We expected it would be denied but we tried it anyway…. We thought maybe there would be a miracle and it would be approved,” Ibanez, a 33-year-old call centre worker, told Agence France-Presse.
Well a miracle did happen.
To the couples’ surprise, they were promptly issued a marriage license by the city hall clerk.
Apparently, the clerk got a little confused and thought that Ibanez was marrying Agbayani and Gregorio was marrying Pelipe. She did not notice that the license applications were for a male couple and a female couple, respectively.
Despite the error, the two same-sex couples remain legally married because divorce is not allowed in the Philippines.
The Philippines is the only remaining country (outside of The Vatican) in the world where divorce is still illegal.
BACOLOD CITY, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – Police investigators looking into the case of a 21-year-old man believed to be high on drugs who allegedly stabbed his live-in partner and his nine-month-old baby in Barangay Rizal, Silay City, Negros Occidental, on Tuesday morning accused the Inquirer of false reporting.
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