Philippine couples pucker up for world record

Manila, Feb 11: More than 6,000 Philippine couples kissed simultaneously in a Manila parking lot, and organisers of what was called the Lovapalooza event said they had set a world record.

''More than 6,000 this time, we broke the record,'' shouted Howard Benson, one of the organisers, as fireworks went off and confetti and heart-shaped red balloons filled the air.

A total of 6,124 couples kissed simultaneously for at least 10 seconds in a parking lot outside a Manila shopping mall, said Albert Almendralejo, producer of Lovapalooza yesterday.

A team of independent auditors were present to verify the number of people taking part in the event.

The current record is held by 5,875 couples kissing at an event organised at the Elisabeth Bridge in Budapest, Hungary on June 25, 2005.

The thousands of mostly young men and women had gathered in the early evening at the mall on Manila Bay and had danced and listened to music until midnight yesterday. After a countdown broadcast on loudspeakers posted all around the area, they kissed exactly at midnight.

''It has brought us closer together, we are proud of breaking the record,'' said Jade Lynn Grados, a young woman who, like her boyfriend, was dressed in a red shirt for the event.

Reuters