A question of heroes

Today is National Heroes Day. And as the nation honors the men and women who have fought for independence and freedom throughout our history as a nation, it is worthwhile to ask: Who should be considered heroes?

      

We already have a pantheon of revered national heroes, mainly from the revolutionary period at the turn of the 20th century. The roster includes Jose Rizal, whose writings galvanized Filipinos to seek deliverance from oppression by the Spanish colonial regime; Andres Bonifacio, who founded the revolutionary Katipunan that initiated the Philippine Revolution of 1896; Marcelo H. del Pilar, the propagandist of the Revolution; and Apolinario Mabini, the "brains" of the Revolution. Each one of them—and nameless others—contributed to the realization  of our independence and freedom from colonial rule.

      

But while we have the benefit of hindsight to identify those who made sacrifices from the Spanish era down to the American colonial period to the Japanese occupation, it is not so easy to tell who among contemporary Filipinos can definitely be considered heroes for having contributed to our nationhood and our democracy.

      

How do we measure, for instance, the contributions of Ninoy Aquino and Cory  Aquino to Philippine democracy, and ultimately, our nation?  We have hailed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as a collective entity as heroes for keeping the Philippine economy on even keel with their dollar remittances to their families back home, but would that single yardstick make them real heroes?

      

History, of course, will ultimately determine who should be considered the heroes of the Filipino people—and who should be considered its heels, or perhaps even villains. Of the latter, we definitely do not have only a few. –End-

Image by: malacanang.gov.ph