ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — “Patay na ang nanay sang akon kabata-an (The mother of my children is dead),” said 42-year-old Nestor Jaro in the local Hiligaynon dialect.

The controversy that continues to rage where passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill is concerned

Jaro’s wife, Helen is only one of at least 11 maternal deaths recorded daily in the Philippines by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), even as the debate on whether or not to enact the controversial bill on Reproductive Health continues to rage in the country.

Based in the town of Guimbal, Jaro, the father of three children joined a mass of Ilonggos who went out in the streets here to observe the National Day of Purple Ribbon for RH last September 7.

The fish vendor expressed sadness that and his late wife found out too late that they could have exercised adopting a proper family planning option. He said had there been a concrete government program in educating couples about having informed choices, his wife and his would-have-been fourth child could very well still be alive.

According to Commission on Population (Popcom) 6 regional director Vicente Molejona, about 69 mothers die for every 100,000 live births in Western Visayas currently.