Jailed couples exchange vows inside the Mandaue City Jail in a wedding ceremony officiated by Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes on Dec. 26, 2019. |Contributed Photo
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – Partners Randy, 40, and Joan, 35, and couple Joel, 35, and Myrna, 25, share a common fate. All are in jail. All face drug-related charges.
But their life in prison inside the Mandaue City Jail has been given a ray of hope as they wed in simple rites inside the jail a day after Christmas, or on December 26, in a wedding ceremony officiated by Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes.
When Randy learned that the jail management was offering jailed couples for a change to get married for free, it was an opportunity he did not wish to pass off.
Jailed couples exchanged wedding vows inside the Mandaue City Jail on Dec. 26, 2019 with Mayor Jonas Cortes as the solemnizing officer. |Contributed Photo
Randy (not his real name) has been in prison for seven years now after he was charged with a case of drug pushing. There were opportunities in a mass wedding last year but did not avail of it, hoping that he could get out from the jail and wed his live-in partner in the church. Unfortunately, his live-in partner Joan (not her real name) was also nabbed for drug possession a year ago.
Their young child is now being taken cared of by Joan’s parents.
“Usa lang sab ni sa among plano nga magbag-o na sa among kinabuhi (Getting married is part of our plan to to change our lives),” said Randy.
Randy said he was grateful to the jail officials for their efforts of always looking after the welfare of the inmates and respecting their rights.
“Nalipay kaayo ko nga gipaningkamotan gyud nila nga mahimong bongga ang among kasal kay dunay reception ug ang mayor pa gyud ang mikasal namo,” added Randy.
(I am happy they really exerted efforts to make this wedding grander because there is a reception and the mayor himself officiated the wedding).
Two jailed couples exchanged wedding vows inside the Mandaue City Jail on Dec. 26, 2019 with Mayor Jonas Cortes as the solemnizing officer.| Contributed Photo
Another couple who was jailed also for a drug case last year is the second pair during the wedding ceremony. Joel and live-in partner Myrna (both real names withheld) were both nabbed in a buy-bust operation in 2017.
The couple has three young children in the care of Myrna’s parents.
“Bag-ohon na nako akong kinabuhi ug mahalon sa hangtud ang akong asawa ug mga anak, mao nga gipakaslan nako siya,” said Joel.
( I’m going to change my life and love my wife and children, thus, I married her).
Jail Superintendent Gil Inopia, the Jail Warden of Mandaue City Jail (Male Dormitory), said the wedding ceremony inside the jail is just among the programs they are initiating in the reformation of the inmates, in the hope that when their cases are done and their sentences are over, they will return to their communities as law-abiding citizens.
Mayor Cortes, on the other hand, assured he will alway support programs like this and extend the city’s services to Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL).
There is no date yet for either couple when they will get out of jail as their cases are still pending in courts. And it is everyone’s hope that both grooms will make good their vows to give themselves and their families a fresh start. /elb