COLUMN | WEEKLY REFLECTIONS
The author is a professor and former President at the Union Theological Seminary-Philippines. He holds a doctor’s degree in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of Leeds, England.
NATIONAL HEROES DAY may come as no different from those other dates magnified as holidays in our national calendar. Today, however, given how history is being revised to justify the authoritarian course of the present government, and given how the memories of our heroes are being dis-membered and besmirched by the continuing glorification of fascist neocolonial politics, the observance of National Heroes Day is haunting to them who insist seeing terrorism in acts of heroism and revolutionary activism.
The concept of heroism has been demeaned lately by some delusional and self-aggrandizing claims by a succession of governments. In the not-so-distant past, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo extolled Gen. Jovito Palparan extravagantly as a hero and a beacon of democracy in no less than her 2006 State of Nation Address. Named infamously as “The Butcher” and “The Executioner” for his links with countless cases of human rights violations involving activists, Palparan was convicted by the court in 2018 for the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of Empeno and Cadapan, women students who stay desaparecidas to this day. Before her, the late secretary and senator, Raul Manglapus, similarly exalted the late president, Corazon Aquino, as a “new goddess in the pantheon of democracy.” Today, the political spinners of the current government are meticulously choreographing (albeit unsuccessfully) the “reluctant” president as a flag-kissing hero-savior of the republic. And did not the late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos peddle himself as a maharlika war hero and a savior of democracy?
HEROES AND HEROISM? If you are to take the cue from Gat Andres Bonifacio and the heroes our nation remembers today, these words mean selfless service for the uplift of the uring anakpawis, not the ruling powers and their colonial masters. Your agenda is to free the oppressed from the clutches of exploitation and national oppression and not enslave them in some kind of a national security state that serves none but the interests of big corporations and economic vultures.
“Selfless” service means you are not paid to serve or advance a cause; it does not mean entering public service so that you will enjoy all the perks of being in the seat of power; it does not mean you serve to get a promotion; or “give your life” to evade criminal liability and earn your handlers’ graces. You must have heard of the all-powerful president saying he will die for the republic, or of some shady characters saying they are putting their lives on the line for their new-found cause? They are no heroes.
The Christian narrative is no stranger to heroes and acts of heroism. In fact, we see divinity in heroes and acts of heroism. We see the spiritual in acts of mercy and sacrificial love. Without reducing religious narrative to the soteriology and martyrology of the all-too temporal politics of social movements, the heroes or saints of our faith all died selflessly for others and for the work of God in our world. It is in the common agenda of birthing the new world that the artificial divide between the Christian martyr and the revolutionary hero is made superfluous.
But like the one at the heart of our Christian narrative, it is the hero who is always seen as the peace and order problem, the rabble-rouser, the dissident, a heartless activist who snatches people from their mothers and families (Mt 12:49), and a terrorist(!). In our nation’s history, from Hermano Pule and the nativist rebels of earlier centuries to Macario Sakay and the heroes beatified by the Bantayog ng Mga Bayani Foundation, our heroes were similarly labeled, declared, and chased as subversives, brigands, and terrorists.
Today, those who are working selflessly for “their friends (Jn 15:13),” similar to our venerated national heroes, are they who are being labeled, proscribed, and now harassed as “enablers” and “facilitators” of terrorism. Some, as a matter of fact, have already been “neutralized” in cases that are to this day classified cavalierly by police authorities as “death under investigation.”
The Good Book has these words to say to these heroes and prophets of our time, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me [or “the least of your brothers and sisters (Mt 25:35-46)]. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets before you.… (Mt. 5: 10-12)”. # nordis.net
3 MIN READModernization should not come at the cost of neglecting heritage and memory. Within the cemetery are historical tombs and early burials—including old American-period graves and those of officials who helped build Baguio.
5 MIN READFor those of us engaged in organizing and education, the task is not only to resist injustice but also to resist the normalization of dehumanization itself.
3 MIN READThe performances are manifestations of UP’s culture of resistance and persistence as a safe haven for civilized, intelligent discourse across all beliefs and forms of democratic expression.
2 MIN READAng planong offshore wind farm sa Bangui Bay sa Burgos, Ilocos Norte ay maaaring isa na namang proyekto kung saan ang malalaki ang kikita at ang maliliit ang magdurusa.
