Frontliners in Cebu City tie knot amid pandemic

Sylvester Ray Ortega and Michelle Ann Ouano, both medical frontliners, got married in Cebu City on Wednesday, September 30, 2020.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A love story right out of a pandemic.

Such is the marriage of 37-year-old Sylvester Ray Ortega, and 30-year-old Michelle Ann Ouano from Barangay Mabolo in Cebu City, who tied the knot in a civil ceremony administered by Mayor Edgardo Labella on Wednesday, September 30, 2020.

The bride and groom are Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) medical frontliners as Ortega is a radiologic technologist while Ouano is a doctor who specializes in Obstetrics and Gynecology. They both work at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).

The difficulties in schedule and the danger their jobs bring in this time of a health crisis were not enough to the two from tying the knot and declaring their love to the world.

They were supposed to be married at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral last June 22, 2020, but since the city was placed under a strict enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the wedding did not push through.

It didn’t help that both were also busy serving the public as the COVID-19 cases in the city rose with Ortega working up to eight hours a day and Ouano working 36-hour shifts at one time.

Life was tough for the couple as there was a time that both couldn’t even see each other as they were being quarantined separately in a dormitory inside the VSMMC.

Still, the coupled persevered and finally decided to do a civil wedding first.

Mayor Labella said he was honored to administer the wedding of the two frontliners, who sacrificed their wedding plans to serve the city amid the pandemic.

He thanked the frontliners for their service and urged them to love each other and work hard in their matrimony the way they worked hard for the Cebuanos during the pandemic.

Here are some photos of the civil wedding courtesy of the Cebu City Public Information Office:

/bmjo