Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals.

In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021.

“First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday.

Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said.

Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said.

Arugay warned Filipinos, especially women, to check the background of the foreign nationals they meet online.

Under his term, Arugay said the agency, in coordination with the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Justice, has apprehended at least five foreign nationals for possible case of human trafficking.

He said the foreigners are now being tried in courts.

According to Arugay, the agency conducts background checks for those applying for migrant or fiancé visas.

The CFO, he said, also offers guidance and counseling to Filipinos before leaving the country as spouses, partners or fiancé of foreign nationals.