We attended the seminar Oct. 25, 2017 from 8am to 12nn at a building near Tarlac City Hall (Population Commission or PopCom office, 3rd floor, building near Conacor).
Around 7:50am we arrived at the PopCom office and filled out forms for registration. Then an officer/counselor interviewed us. She asked questions about our residence, jobs, livelihood, PhilHealth membership, if we already have kids, etc. It's a short interview and counseling to prepare us for marriage.
10+ couples attended the seminar. I heard that the seminar is usually held during Wednesday mornings up to afternoon. Schedule, seminar length, and venue might vary depending on the availability of the speakers, number of attendees, and other reasons. The speaker talked about the following things:
- Importance of financial preparation
- Computation of expenses for each child from birth up to college graduation
- Introduction to family planning methods
- The importance of strong families for a strong nation
- Real-life experiences and challenges of some couples
In other words, the goal is to better prepare couples for starting a family and build awareness about building a strong and happy family towards a more prosperous and peaceful nation.
After the seminar (around lunchtime), they distributed the certificates and we the couples went back to the Local Civil Registry to complete our application for marriage license.
