As part of Safeguard’s “Voices of Protection” campaign produced by Havas Ortega, local community representatives from Marikina deliver handwashing reminders across key public spaces—including markets, schools, and health facilities—embedding hygiene advocacy into everyday life and reinforcing proper handwashing habits where they matter most.
Safeguard and Havas Ortega have teamed up to elevate how Filipinos are reminded to wash their hands. With “Voices of Protection,” Safeguard moved its handwashing campaign from the streets to the airwaves, turning Marikina’s soundscape into a platform for protection.
Launched on Global Handwashing Day, the initiative, which is part of the “Safe Wash, Safeguard Pinas” program, enlisted three local community representatives from Marikina City to deliver handwashing reminders in their own style to help protect their community. These local voices now echo through Marikina Elementary School, Parang Market, and the Marikina City Health Office – key areas in the city where proper handwashing plays a vital role in community protection. The effort drives the Safe Wash, Safeguard Pinas program forward, with the goal of fostering germ-protected communities through improved everyday hygiene, one community at a time. Through its partnerships with the Philippine Association of Medical Technologists (PAMET), the Philippine Red Cross, and the Manila Water Foundation, Safeguard is providing soaps and installing 10-faucet handwashing sinks in 60 schools, many of which also serve as evacuation centers during typhoons.
“Voices of Protection is one of the ways we’re actively engaging with and involving communities through the Safe Wash, Safeguard Pinas program,” reflects Mr. Lester Estrada, Vice President, Beauty Care and Media Operations, at Procter & Gamble Philippines. “It’s a simple yet powerful way to help keep our communities protected.”
Being Part of the Local Soundscape to Deliver the Message
Produced by Havas Ortega, the initiative uses sound to change behavior – embedding reminders in familiar, community spaces to help make handwashing a habit.
“There have been too many hygiene advocacies already that say the same thing, the same way”, remarks Angie Tijam-Tohid, Executive Creative Director at Havas Ortega. “That is why with this project, we made the call to handwash real-time, urgent, and impossible to un-hear specifically in crucial settings where handwashing is most important using familiar community voices to create a live germ-alert system,” she continues.
Scaling the Movement Nationwide
Following its debut in Marikina, Safeguard and Havas Ortega plan to broadcast Voices of Protection in more cities across the Philippines, recruiting other local voices and embedding hygiene advocacy into communities nationwide.
