Yesterday, our nation marked the 129th anniversary of the execution of Dr. Jose Rizal at Bagumbayan.

We mark this event at a time when many of our countrymen are experiencing serious disappointment over the unfolding saga of infrastructure project-related controversies, where several national government agencies, political personalities, and prominent contractors have been linked. As a result, we have seen a good number of social media habitues posting the comment, “Pilipinas, ang hirap mong mahalin. (Philippines, it is so hard to love you.)”

This sentiment invites us to reflect on the character and role of Filipinos like Dr. Jose Rizal, whom we consider “heroes.” In the midst of our collective disappointment, our “heroes” show us that we must love our country no matter how difficult that task might be.

We ask, at the end of the day, what is a hero? Dictionaries define a hero as one who is admired for his or her courage or for his or her noble traits.

We honor one who is considered a hero for either one of two things: for what he or she has done, or for what he or she is - or was - in life. Both show their unconditional love for the country.

We recall that there is an “official definition” of what the Philippines considers a “hero.” According to the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the government established a National Heroes committee in 1993. A technical working group under that committee recommended the criteria for national heroes.

According to the group, a national hero is one “who has a concept of ‘nation’ and thereafter aspired and struggled for the nation’s freedom;” one who “defines or contributes to a system or life of freedom and order for the nation”; or one who “contributes to the life of quality or destiny of a nation.”

Again, when one summarizes that definition, at the bottom of it is love for country.

Why do we need heroes? Here is our view.

Today, we need heroes to do three things for us: one, to remind us who we are; two, to show us what we can be or what we are capable of doing; three, to inspire us to keep loving our country, no matter what.

The definition of “hero” and our view on why we need one would help us appreciate once again why we honor Dr. Jose Rizal, whose 129th death anniversary the nation commemorated yesterday.

In my view, he fits the dictionary definition of “hero” and satisfies our need for one.

As we had noted several times in the past, we believe that a person who has mastered 22 languages, who was a highly-skilled swordsman and marksman, who was an architect and urban planner, musician, poet, novelist, orator, and ophthalmologist rolled into one is worth admiring and emulating.

I also believe that when it comes to having a concept of “nation” and aspiring for the freedom of that nation, my Dr. Rizal tops them all.

More importantly, he bravely faced death, showing the world that our nation is worth loving and dying for.

In the past, we called attention to the fact that, technically, Dr. Rizal is not our official national hero – not yet, at least.

Apparently, the National Heroes committee, formed in 1993, did not proceed to select one. After it set up the criteria, it came up with a short list of possible national heroes. That list included Dr. J, Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini, Melchora “Tandang Sora” Aquino, Gabriela Silang, Juan Luna, Sultan Kudarat, and Emilio Aguinaldo.

According to the NCCA, the committee halted its work after coming up with the list. It appears the committee preferred to avoid divisive debates, so it did not choose one national hero.

So, for the record, we don’t have an official national hero. We may have presumed that Dr. Rizal is THE national hero, but there is no legal basis yet for that.

Maybe it does not matter.

At the end of the day, a national hero is one who we enshrine in our hearts and whose life and character inspire us to aim for higher goals and love our country even when it is difficult to do so.

So, today, we honor Dr. Rizal as our national hero. That one needs no legal basis.

In my book, a multi-faceted, world-class genius whose love for country and fellow Filipinos was more important than his personal comfort and life is and will always be our nation’s hero.

(The author is a Doctor of Medicine, an entrepreneur and the mayor of Antipolo City, former Rizal governor, and DENR assistant secretary, and LLDA general manager. Email: [email protected])