National Heroes Day, celebrated on the last Monday of August every year, is the occasion at which Filipinos honor all known and unknown individuals who devoted, risked or even sacrificed their lives in the name of achieving Filipino identity, justice against tyranny, freedom and peace.
To Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio and Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino, Jr. have been accorded the unique honor of having nationwide non-working holidays being proclaimed yearly to pay tribute to their heroism.
Today’s commemoration provides an opportunity for Filipinos to accord other national heroes appropriate recognition.
Last April 27, Datu Lapulapu was honored as the first national hero of the country for defeating Portuguese explorer Ferñao de Magalhães (Ferdinand Magellan), an event especially commemorated this year as the 500th anniversary of the introduction of Christianity in the Philippines is also being marked.
Mohammad Dipatuan Kudarat, also known as Sultan Kudarat, ruled the Sultanate of Maguindanao covering the present Lanao, Cotabato and Zamboanga provinces, as well as Saranggani and Sultan Kudarat provinces for a record period of 52 years. Through skillful leadership, he forged a strong solidarity among the Muslim population that prevented the Spanish colonial government from establishing hegemony in Mindanao. Sultan Kudarat also led his maritime sultanate in conducting robust barter trade with the Dutch and the Chinese.
Five Filipino heroines “who changed the course of Philippine history” truly deserve to be known by today’s generation: Gabriela Silang, the Ilocana warrior who was the first to lead an uprising against the Spaniards; Melchora “Tandang Sora” Aquino, also known as the Mother of the Revolution who bravely protected the secrets of the Katipunan before she was deported to Guam; Teresa Magbanua, known as the Visayan Joan of Arc, who was known to have fought Spanish, American and Japanese invaders in Panay island; Josefa Llanes Escoda who founded the Girl Scouts of the Philippines and was among the leaders of the women’s suffrage movement; and Magdalena Leones, the only Asian woman who has been awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in fighting with guerillas during World War II.
Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have also been hailed as the country’s modern day heroes, boosting the Philippine economy through remittances which reached $30 billion or P1.56 trillion or about eight percent of the Philippine economy in 2019.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical and health frontliners have been commended for their exemplary devotion to duty in fighting a rampant contagion. They, too, deserve to be called heroes. Also noteworthy is the recognition of the work performed by supermarket employees, drugstore clerks, security guards, and motorcycle-riding delivery riders who have enabled communities to cope with the challenges dealt by protracted quarantine measures.
Indeed, the Filipino people have every reason to celebrate National Heroes Day.