2014 Women's Month

UP Visayas, my university, has again anchored the celebration of the Women's Month in the entire Western Visayas. The string of activities kicked off last Friday, March 7, 2014 at the UP Visayas Iloilo City campus. We had a public forum, an exposition of women entrepreneurs, a solidarity lunch and poetry-in-motion activity of students. The presence of at least 600 participants from different agencies, schools and individual GAD advocates justified the coverage by radio and TV media outfits based in Iloilo City.

The following day, March 8, the International Women's Day, we joined the Purple Run. It was organized by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation and the Civil Service Commission. At least a thousand people gathered at 5:00 AM and prepared for a 3-kilometer and 5-kilometer run. It was very significant for me because it was my first time to join an organized running event and I ended up as one of the top 20 finishers in the 3 kilometer, female category.

The festivities continued today, March 10, at the UPV main campus at Miagao, Iloilo. We opened an exhibit on the women's struggles for gender equality and another bazaar featuring women entrepreneurs. We also enjoyed the cookfest and sumptuous boodle lunch. This very moment (7 PM), I can hear the extravaganza of talents of students. After posting this article, I will go and watch it. I also hope to watch the series of films that will be shown in the student dormitories this Friday.

To symbolize the reverberating voices of Filipino women (and men), we decorated the UPV Main Campus with red, white, blue, purple and yellow crepe paper. We also had a big stage appropriately set up for the occasion. The attached photos can show how we have celebrated the Women's Month for 2014 so far.