MANILA – The number of Filipinos abroad who married or have become partners of foreign nationals has continued to rise, the Commission on Overseas Filipinos (CFO) said on Wednesday.
While the data has been high since 2007, the number significantly dropped in 2020 because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, CFO Secretary Leo Arugay said in a statement on Wednesday.
However, the number started to pick up again in 2022 as the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals.
This translates to a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021.
Records also showed that the majority of them married to a US citizen at 2,808, followed by Australians at 555, Canadians at 396, Germans at 335, and Japanese at 307.
Most Filipinos who entered into “intermarriage” met their partners through personal introductions, workplaces, penpal referrals made by relatives, the internet, and ads and columns.
Of the 6,854, the CFO data showed that 663 are male and 6,191 are female, and most of them came from the National Capital Region (NCR), followed by Calabarzon or Region 4-A, Central Luzon, and Central Visayas.
Meanwhile, aside from contracting marriage, Arugay said many Filipinos emigrate to other countries for various reasons that include family reunification, and those who migrate for work and eventually acquire citizenship in the host country.
Arugay said the agency offers guidance and counseling to Filipinos before leaving the country as spouses, partners, or fiancé(e) of foreign nationals.
“The program provides information about the country of destination and allows the counselees to have one-on-one sessions with the CFO counselors to address their concerns about the challenges of intermarriage and migration,” Arugay said. (PNA)
