Anti-RH bill marches held in Laguna, Quezon, Oriental Mindoro

A Catholic nun wearing an anti-Reproductive Health (RH) ribbon (top R) holds a chain of rosary beads (C) as she joins some 7000 protesters during an anti RH bill rally at a Catholic shrine in Manila on August 4, 2012. Philippine nuns and priests led thousands of Catholics in a protest in Manila against a proposed law that would provide free contraceptives in a bid to curb population growth.AFP/TED ALJIBE

SAN PABLO CITY, Philippines—Hundreds of representatives from Catholic schools,  religious and civic organizations, seminarians and clergymen on Saturday held protest marches called  “Walk for Life” while others joined prayer vigils in parish churches in Laguna, Lucena City and Calapan City for the defeat of the reproductive health bill in Congress.

In Laguna, parishioners organized by the Knights of Columbus and Family Life Ministry Commission of the Diocese of Laguna trooped to the Edsa Shrine on Saturday to join the anti-RH rally. They travelled on  more than six  buses and a number of vans and other private vehicles.

For those who could not join the rally in Manila, a prayer vigil from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. was organized in the different parishes. Bishop Leo Drona urged daily recitation of the Angelus at 6 p.m. in every home and parish and for the praying of the Oratio Imperata at every Mass.

The intentions were to “uphold the sanctity of the human life and dignity of the unity of the family against the culture of death,” he said.

In Lucena City, around 3,000 protesters staged a march from the patio of the Saint Ferdinand Cathedral to  the Quezon Convention Center where they filled up half of center’s seating capacity.

The protesters prayed the rosary under a morning drizzle while marching, which stalled traffic for about 30 minutes on the city’s main street.

Mgsr. Leandro Castro, vicar general of the Diocese of Lucena, called on Quezon representatives to vote against passage of the bill during the crucial vote in the House of Representatives on August 7.

Bishop Rolando Tria-Tirona, head of the Prelature of Infanta embracing northern Quezon and Aurora province, said a pastoral letter would be read Sunday in all parishes of the prelature while Fr. Ding Daño from the Diocese of Gumaca, said all churches in the diocese would hold prayer vigils for the defeat of the bill.

Fr. Recto Hernandez of the Diocese of Lucena said what Filipinos need are jobs and economic opportunities and not a flood of contraceptives.

Madelyn de Guzman, a senior high school student, said “we’re all devout Catholics in the family. I’m representing my parents in their expression of protest against RH bill.”

In Calapan City in Oriental Mindoro, around 3,000 Mindoreños joined the “Takbokasyon” or run for vocation and “walk for life” against the RH bill that started at around 6:30 a.m. at the Sto. Niño Cathedral.

Rep. Rodolfo Valencia of the first district of the province and Mayor Paulino Leachon were among those present in the event.

Reports from Delfin Mallari Jr., Madonna T. Virola and Romulo O. Ponte, Inquirer Southern Luzon