As the Philippines marked National Heroes Day on Monday, August 29, activists called on Filipinos to be “heroes of history” and to “fight lies and revisionisms.”
Activist group Akbayan said all truth-seeking Filipinos should defend the legacy of those who fought the dictatorship on the 1970s against what it called the “growing culture of pseudo history.”
The call was made amid what the group described as “intensified efforts” by the family of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. to present the “other side” of the dictatorship.
“The freedoms and liberties we enjoy today are only possible because of our heroes’ bravery and selflessness. Let us not tarnish their legacy,” said Akbayan spokesperson Dr. RJ Naguit.
Akbayan said that one can be a “hero of history” by:
- Fact-checking claims and articles online.
- Developing the habit of counter-checking before spreading content online.
- Promoting credible sources, links, and media.
- Refraining from patronizing films and media that rely on conspiracy theories and unproven sources.
“While it is our duty as citizens to constantly revisit the past and improve our understanding of past realities, our perspectives must be based on truth, justice and accountability,” said Naguit.
During the Marcos dictatorship, more than 3,000 people were killed, 35,000 were tortured, and 70,000 detained in what historians agree to be one of the darkest periods of the country’s history.
The nation’s economy was also at its worst point in the post-war era, with the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) plummeting to as low as -7% and inflation reaching 50% in 1984.
National Heroes Day is celebrated every year during the last week of August.
The Philippine Legislature passed Act No. 3827 On Oct. 28, 1931, that declared the last Sunday of August of every year as a national holiday to honor the heroes of the country.
During the Japanese occupation, President Jose P. Laurel reset the commemoration to November 30 and chose to mark it at the Mt. Samat cemetery in Bataan as a silent act of defiance.
A year after the war ended, President Sergio Osmeña chose Capas, Tarlac as the venue for its observance to honor the memory of more than 20,000 Filipino and American soldiers who died during the infamous Death March from Bataan.
In 1952, President Elpidio Quirino reverted the observance to the last Sunday of August.
When President Corazon Aquino signed into law the revised Administrative Code in 1987, National Heroes Day was included in the list of regular national holidays.
Twenty years later, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law Republic Act No. 9492 stipulating the observance of National Heroes Day on the last Monday of August.
The country’s Official Gazette states that because National Heroes Day specifies no hero, it “offers an opportunity to celebrate the bravery of not one, not a few, but all Filipino heroes who have braved death or persecution for home, nation, justice, and freedom.”
