What makes a national hero?
August 6th, 2009 by blackshamaIn August we mark National Heroes Day on August 31, Ninoy Aquino day on the 21st and Quezon Day on the 19th. It may be a good time to reflect on what a national hero is now that some people propose that Congress make the late Mrs Corazon Aquino, 11th President of the Philippines a national hero.
Mrs Aquino’s husband Senator Ninoy Aquino was finally granted national hero status with Congress creating a national holiday in his honor. It was much belated since Mrs Aquino would never have thought of making her husband one during her term. President FVR recognized Ninoy’s hero status by presidential proclamation. The vast majority of Pinoys agreed although there is some dissent.
Foremost of the dissenters is Frankie Sionil Jose who writes that Ninoy is indeed heroic and a martyr, he is no national hero. For him it is Rizal and Rizal only that should have the honor for his deeds alone made this nation for what it is now.(BTW, that’s the same argument he makes why Fernando Zobel should not be a National Artist. I think with this current National Artist ruckus, the arguments will be revived! But that is another story)
Of course not all agree with Sionil-Jose. What about Andres Bonifacio?
Rizal was “canonized” not by the interloping Americans but by Emilio Aguinaldo and la Republica Filipina who decreed our first national holiday, December 3o as Rizal Day (And not June 19 as the revisionists would have it). The Americans saw fit to ride on the Rizal adulation and craftily made a spin of their imperialistic own. This is the basis of the hook, line and sinker propaganda dished out by the silly Left when I was an undergraduate. “Rizal was an American minted national hero” they said and Bonifacio should be the one.
While Bonifacio indeed is a national hero, he has been relegated to the unenviable “assistant national hero” status. He is just like an associate professor who wants to be chair of his/her department and can’t get promoted due to political reasons. Rizal remains the National Hero and people still go into apoplectic fits on changing the color of his childhood home or when he was pictured wearing a barong and eating “tuyo”. In contrast, Bonifacio’s house is now a mall, the founding site of the Katipunan a commercial building, the site of that contentious “Cry” is unresolved, Bonifacio is the subject of a nasty children’s ditty and we don’t know where his bones are. Now hardly anyone goes into a fit if Ka Andres is maligned!
Similarly when another hero’s bahay kubo, Apolinario Mabini’s house was moved from Nagtahan to Santa Mesa, hardly anyone made a fit!
Maybe we should just have one national hero. All other heroes should be in supporting cast! While Congress can legislate, acclamation always comes from the people throughout time. Methinks this is what our honorable Representatives should consider before considering Mrs Aquino as a national hero. Let the traditional mourning period pass. The worst thing that can happen is that one or two generations from now, Mrs Aquino would be considered a supporting national hero to husband Ninoy! That would rile the feminists and do no justice to Mrs Aquino at all.
When President Quezon died in August 1944, biographer and national artist Carlos Quirino likened Quezon to a “paladin of Philippine freedom” and in the same league as Rizal. Today, we do recognize that Quezon was heroic, but we are fans not due to his heroism but because of his being a wily politician that is imprinted forever on the nature of our republic. Of course Quezon will always be a hero to Quezon City, Quezon, Palawan and the Province of Quezon.
As for Rizal, national acclamation and adulation continues and some consider him divine!
August 6, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Here my further pitch for a truth commission. This is consistent with yours/blackshama’s theme about sino nga ba ang heroes?
There is a need to close the books on the Marcos years, and I don’t mean just this “… was it Marcos who was in the helicopter that flew to Hawaii?” Truth Commission is needed to find all unreturned victims of the Marcos years (… and by the military under Cory, too!!!). Among you is Primer wants to rewrite history (his words). Give the Primer’s enough enough time and space, they will convince others to think maybe this dude Marcos is just a regular guy, after all. Maybe another Marcos will do Pinas good.
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from http://filipinovoices.com/hr-1109-goes-to-the-archives#comments
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In the meanwhile, you have EllenT and DingG gladdened by RECONCILIATION-RECONCILIATION between Aquino and Marcos clans, and Kris/Noynoy poised to lead Pinas.
August 6, 2009 at 7:56 pm
<i.You can form your own conclusion. Think again of the history where Pinas political clans made kissy-doo/make-up — reconciliation-reconciliation, and answer for yourself if the alliances between political clans did other than zero-zilch-nada for Pilipinas ( making allowances, of course, for a number of Lozada-type”…moderate the greed” practicioners driving nicer cars).
August 6, 2009 at 7:59 pm
You can form your own conclusion. Think again of the history where Pinas political clans made kissy-doo/make-up — reconciliation-reconciliation kumbaya, and answer for yourself if the alliances between political clans did other than zero-zilch-nada for Pilipinas ( making allowances, of course, for a number of Lozada-type”…moderate the greed” practitioners driving nicer cars).
August 7, 2009 at 2:44 am
A Hero never even dreamed of, in becoming a Hero. He or she is just
placed there by circumstances, right place at he right time.
They saw their destinies and callings. They were not afraid to step
into it. They are just guided by some Forces greater than them to
accomplish their destinies.
August 7, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Blackshama,
“Today, we do recognize that Quezon was heroic, but we are fans not due to his heroism but because of his being a wily politician that is imprinted forever on the nature of our republic. Of course Quezon will always be a hero to Quezon City, Quezon, Palawan and the Province of Quezon.”
Masyado mo naman minaliit si Quezon. Father of Philippine independence. Remember Tydings-McDuffie?
August 7, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Manuel Quezon is the father of Philippines run like hell by Filipinos – a continuation of the landlord class’ stranglehold on the local economy.
Nothing heroic about it – more like damnation. Pinoys are too oblivious to figure that out though.
August 7, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Well I did put it all of these as “wily”
August 8, 2009 at 12:21 am
you prefer to remain a colony
August 8, 2009 at 12:23 am
blackshama,
you dismiss the struggle for independence as wily, I expected more from you.
August 8, 2009 at 12:29 am
bong v,
so you stop looking like an ignorant know it all basing opinions on incomplete quotations, the complete Quezon quote is:
“I prefer a government run like hell by Filipinos to a government run like heaven by Americans. Because, however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it.”
August 8, 2009 at 1:53 am
hell is hell..colony or not
heaven is heaven .. colony or not..
moreover, you are a colony of your own landlord class, oblivious pa rin.
August 8, 2009 at 12:35 pm
. — Manuel Quezon, he was an optimist
August 8, 2009 at 2:26 am
that was a period in our history as a people that we needed a manuel l. quezon. someone may describe him as “wily” but, true or not, it was that characteristic that made him the ideal “man of the hour”. a push-over may not have been as effective. at a time when filipinos were denigrated as “little brown bothers” or “monkey without tail from zamboanga”, quezon’s wit, eloquence, poise and confidence, fiery demeanor and overall urbane personality that commanded respect from both his countrymen and foreigners alike, came in handy. in my book, he was a philippine treasure and, especially in these days of inflated values, come very close to being a true hero.
August 8, 2009 at 3:07 am
Bencard:
when I hear Quezon, these words of Sionil Jose come to mind:
August 8, 2009 at 6:28 pm
bongv,
ang likot mo! Ang issue ay si Quezon and father of Philippine Independence.
Your half-baked leftist ideas if eaten would lead yo stomach pain
August 9, 2009 at 11:26 am
mcb:
lol.
actually, the left and the landlords agree in pursuing a protectionist line.
i don’t agree. the basic proposition is this. say, i have a business idea for a product or service that is of great use in the philippines..a venture capitalist will put in money into it, provided he has majority shares. i am willing to go with it, but under philippine laws that’s not possible – so, i lose out, including the people who could have been hired. replicate that many times over – hundreds of thousands of times – that’s what we are losing out.
the commies aim to abolish private property, i don’t agree. just because.
i don’t agree with armed struggle either. why blow up a bridge only to rebuild it later? why kill each other when we can have a rational dialog? there are win-win solutions that build prosperity uphold human rights and the rule of law – but only if we are willing to work for it.
August 9, 2009 at 4:53 pm
BongV,
“i don’t agree. the basic proposition is this. say, i have a business idea for a product or service that is of great use in the philippines..a venture capitalist will put in money into it, provided he has majority shares. i am willing to go with it, but under philippine laws that’s not possible – so, i lose out, including the people who could have been hired. replicate that many times over – hundreds of thousands of times – that’s what we are losing out.”
Not true. A venture capitalist will value his return on investment more than the equity he holds in a certain business. Many venture capitalists do not need to own all of anything, they perfectly happy with a bite out of the apple. Businessmen invest in property development in China and Vietnam even though they are not allowed to own property there.
Better to look at inefficiencies like poor infrastructure, red tape, law and order, corruption etc. when you analyze why this country is not an investment paradise before you think about dismantling so-called protectionist constitutional protections.
August 8, 2009 at 6:25 pm
tama ka dyan bencard. Paminsan minsan meron don tayong common ground