GUAGUA -- More than a dozen couples tied the knot at the picturesque Guagua Artists Haven Park, as the Municipal Government urged couples to begin their married life by planting trees.
The first ever mass wedding at the eco-park was solemnized by Mayor Dante Torres and attended by Vice Mayor Sajid Khan Eusoof and other town officials.
The mass wedding enabled couples to solemnize their unions without the usual enormous wedding expenses brought about by traditional weddings.
Aside from the customary couple vows, newlyweds in Guagua town are asked to make another vow: plant a tree sapling and take care of it in their own garden or backyard.
"It's a sort of training. If they could take care of that tree as a couple, they learn how to be responsible with things," Torres said.
Torres said that all couples seeking civil union in the municipality are given tree saplings to plant. It is the local government's way of urging newlyweds to be more responsible for the environment and make tree planting more symbolic.
"I would tell them that planting a tree is like taking care of a relationship. You must be responsible and be prepared to take care of the tree regularly. It grows as their relationship grows deeper," Torres said.
Torres said he gives away tree saplings like mango, langka and santol so that these could be more useful to the family in the future.
Close to 100 couples have been given fruit trees by the mayor since he started his term.
Aside from this, tree planting activities in several barangays were also conducted in the past months in a bid to introduce trees in areas that experience massive flooding every year.