Groups joined National Day for the Purple Ribbon Campaign for RH

Purple shirts, bandanas, headwear, umbrellas, buttons and ribbons dominated the areas where more than four thousand leaders and representatives from various groups including non-government organizations, interfaith, academe, youth, women, community, and civil society groups together with local government officials, celebrities and RH personalities in Iloilo, Davao, Baguio and in the Philippine Senate  main entrance gathered as they celebrated 7 September 2011 as the National Day of the Purple Ribbon Campaign for Reproductive Health.

The nationally coordinated mass action is a call for Congress to immediately put the long-delayed Reproductive Health (RH) bill to a vote.  “Majority of the Filipino people has spoken, the President has spoken,  that  RH education and services must be provided particularly to poor couples” said Ramon San Pascual, Executive Director of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. (PLCPD), one of the main organizers of the event.

According to San Pascual results of various surveys and as affirmed by the massive show of support from various groups in the Purple Day for RH Campaign, only indicated loud call from the people for Congress to act on the pending measure immediately.

“The strong and broad support by ordinary folks in the provinces has shown that the clamor for the enactment of the RH bill is indeed very real and is reflective of the numbers shown by various survey results,” he said. 

San Pascual said that there is no more reason for Congress to delay the voting of the RH bill since the people have spoken and the President and its Cabinet has already endorsed the measure. Vigie Benosa-Llorin, Media Advocacy Officer,  PLCPD