ISABELA CITY, Basilan – Around
three-thousand women from the different barangays and organizations in Isabela
City gathered to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, 2013 at the
Isabela City gymnasium.
The celebration kicked off with a street
parade around the main thoroughfares of the city and winded up at the city hall
complex for the program with the theme “Kababaihan: Gabay sa Pagtahak sa Tuwid
na Daan”.
In her message, Isabela City Mayor Cherrylyn
Santos-Akbar urged women to uphold family values as pillars of society’s peace
and progress.
“Women have a big obligation to fulfill in
the community, especially the mothers who bear great responsibility on their
shoulders because they nurture a family,
i.e. taking care of the husband and the children,” she said.
The mayor said that the city has a strong
organization of women who are firm, steadfast, and fighter of their rights.
“We celebrate this important day to remind
all of us and the world of our important role in society,” she said.
She reminded the crowd that “as loving wife
to our husbands and caring mother to our children, we have the responsibility
to guide the family towards the straight path.” She echoed the same to daughters,
urging them to give back the love, care, and sacrifices that parents have given
them.
She also urged the women present to exercise
discipline and take utmost care of one’s health. “Being a woman, we also have
the responsibility to love ourselves by maintaining a healthy mind and body.
Our state of health will surely affect the whole family,” she said.
As what she always says to women in similar
gatherings, “it is forbidden for us to get sick, not only because it is too
expensive nowadays, but because we cannot afford to lose sight of our
responsibility towards our partners in life and to our children, because a
happy family means a better society.”
Meanwhile, some participants are hopeful that
the city mayor could provide more programs to the women of the city, especially
in terms of uplifting their lives through a more concrete livelihood program
and job opportunities.
International Women's Day has been observed
since the early 1900's, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the
industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical
ideologies.
The Philippine Commission on Women in its
website said the theme “Kababaihan: Gabay sa Pagtahak sa Tuwid na Daan” is adopted
for the 2013 Women’s Month Celebration in consonance with President Benigno
Aquino’s pursuit and vision of ‘tuwid na daan’. The theme underscores women’s
leadership role and participation in governance to enhance gender perspective
in upholding good governance. It highlights the importance of strengthening the
mechanisms and institutions that support women and to widen the arena for their
participation. It is also aligned with Section 11 (Participation and
Representation) and Section 29 (Peace and Development) of the Magna Carta of
Women (RA 9710). (PIA9)
