Hi Everyone!

Today is National Heroes’ Day (Araw ng mga Bayani) which is a public holiday in the Philippines on the 4th Monday of August each year.The Philippines, on this day, commemorates the “Cry of Pugad Lawin” by Filipino revolutionaries called the Katipunan led by its leader (Supremo) Andres Bonifacio.This was the beginning of the end for the Spanish occupation of the Philippines.

The Philippines, like all countries of the world, has had many heroes in its history. That got me to thinking about the definition of a hero. I ask Mama “what is a hero?” and she said that we will start by looking up the definition of the word. Webster’s Dictionary states: “a man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength.”

Mama told me that this definition is not quite correct as it doesn’t truly define what a hero is. Mama said upon closer examination, many more different qualities than just the above mentioned become apparent upon reflection.. Courage, honesty, bravery, selflessness, and the will to try are just a few of the overlooked qualities of a hero.

Mama said there is another type of hero that almost no one is aware of. In the poorest areas of the country live people who have little resources or opportunities. All their lives they’ve expected to work hard and expected little or no success in life. Some individuals living in poverty with a strong determination to succeed work hard all of their lives with the single goal of rising up from their surroundings and circumstances to build a better life for themselves and their family; they are heroes. There are over 11 million Filipino Overseas Workers working in countries all around the world. They provide over 20% of the Gross National Income each and every year. They sacrifice there lives to provide much needed income to their families here in the Philippines. We call them our “modern day heroes.”

Mama said that everyone can be a hero each and everyday. She said that when we live our lives with the idea that we are here to help each other in every way possible we are heroes. When we help a older person across the street or give up our seat on a bus for an older person; we are a hero. When we help our friends with their homework when they are sick and can not attend school; we are heroes. I think that you get the idea. Mama said God teaches us that simple acts of kindness makes us better persons and that is really what being a hero is all about…being the best we can.

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Technorati Tags: heroes, National Heroes' Day, Philippine History, values

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Hi Everyone!

Today, we will pick up our story of a great modern day hero of the Philippines - Ninoy Aquino. Mama will continue with the story.

Our story continues with Cory Aquino running for president of the Philippines. During the voting, American observers witnessed many irregularities. Afterward, the two monitoring bodies, one sponsored by a U.S.-based group and the other an official government commission, reported contradictory election results. Both candidates claimed victory, but the national assembly recognized Marcos as the winner. The Catholic Church in Manila issued a statement claiming the election had been “a fraud unparalleled in history.” Marcos’s claim of victory rang hollow.

On February 22 two of Marcos’s key military supporters publicly turned against him. Secretary of Defense Juan Ponce Enrile and Deputy Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos (later to be President of the Philippines) staged a military mutiny, seizing two vital military installations in suburban Manila. This mutiny presented Marcos with an immediate challenge that his cousin General Fabian Ver, the armed forces chief of staff, wanted to meet with decisive force. Cardinal Sin, using the catholic radio station Radio Veritas, summoned the Philippine people into the streets to block General Ver’s tanks. Thousands of civilians flocked into the streets and formed a human barricade on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), the main boulevard between the two military bases. Marcos’s troops lacked either the brutality or the political will to attack unarmed civilians, and they were effectively immobilized by the strong show of what Filipinos called “people power.”

Despite these events, Marcos insisted on being inaugurated president in a private but purely symbolic ceremony on February 25. The next day the Marcoses and their family and close associates fled the Philippines for Hawaii on two aircraft supplied by the U.S. Air Force. Aquino became president.

Benigno S. Aquino never lived to lead the Philippine nation but has been honored in the renaming of Manila International Airport to Ninoy Aquino International and his image appears on a 500-peso note with his most famous quote “The Filipino is worth dying for”. A gold coin was issued to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his death.

Jovito “Jovy” Reyes Salonga, a Filipino senator, statesman, lawyer, and a leading oppositionist to the Marcos regime later to become President of the Senate of the Philippines said it best in a speech, when he said of Ninoy Aquino: “…The Greatest President , We never had…” Ninoy Aquino will live in the hearts of Filipinos for generations to come as the father of Philippine democracy.

In closing I would like to leave you with a poem that Ninoy Aquino wrote to his wife, Cory, while he was imprisioned by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos:

I have fallen in love
with the same woman three times;
In a day spanning 19 years
of tearful joys and joyful tears.

I loved her first when she was young,
enchanting and vibrant, eternally new.
She was brilliant, fragrant,
and cool as the morning dew.

I fell in love with her the second time;
when first she bore her child and mine
always by my side, the source of my strength,
helping to turn the tide.

But there were candles to burn
 the world was my concern;
   while our home was her domain.
    and the people were mine
    while the children were hers to maintain;

   So it was in those eighteen years and a day.
’till I was detained; forced in prison to stay.

Suddenly she’s our sole support;
source of comfort,
our wellspring of Hope.
on her shoulders felt the burden of Life.

I fell in love again,
with the same woman the third time.
Looming from the battle,
her courage will never fade

Amidst the hardships she has remained,
undaunted and unafraid.
she is calm and composed,
she is God’s lovely maid.

Filipino composer and singer Jose Mari Chan later set the piece into music and included it in his album, Constant Change.

Thank you, Mama, for all your help telling the story of a wonderful true modern day hero of the Philippines and the Philippine people. It is so nice to have people, in history, to “look up” to as role models.

Thank you for your visit. Have a great and safe weekend!  

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Hi Everyone!

Twenty-five years ago today, the Philippines started the long journey from a dictatorship to a democratic country. Today, we observe the 25th anniversary of the death of Benigno Simeon Aquino Jr. (affectingly known to Filipinos as Ninoy). Who was Ninoy Aquino and how did he impact the history and future of the Philippines? Mama will be helping me with the posting today and tomorrow.

Ninoy Aquino was born November 27, 1932 and entered politics at the age of 22, after a career as a journalist and war correspondant, and subsequently became the youngest mayor, governor, and senator to serve in the Philippines. In 1954 he married Corazon Cojuangco.  Imprisoned in 1972 when President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, Aquino was allowed to move his family to the United States so he could undergo heart surgery. He later served as a research fellow at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1983 he returned to Manila to work in the legislative election.

Despite high security, he was assassinated as he deplaned on August 21. Although one of Ninoy’s soldier/bodyguards did the shooting, theories of a conspiracy remain involving the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. After a mass at St. Domingo Church, an eleven hour funeral march ensued through twenty five miles of Manila streets with an estimated two million people participating or lining the route of the cortege to the cemetery.Although an investigation commission declared that several military allies of Marcos were responsible for the assassination, all the defendants were acquitted in a 1985 trial.The Supreme Court subsequently declared his murder trial a mistrial. In a new trial that ended in 1990, 16 military officials were convicted of his murder.

Aquino’s death proved to be the tipping point in Marcos’s downfall. Aquino’s widow, Corazon Aquino, put the ailing Marcos on the defensive by depicting him as a brutal dictator. In a gamble to regain some political legitimacy, and secure continued U.S. support for his regime, Marcos announced that a “snap,” or unscheduled, presidential election would be held in February 1986, a year before his term was to expire. Marcos fully expected to win the election, considering his well-oiled political machine and the divided nature of the opposition. But Cardinal Sin, head of the Philippine Catholic Church, arranged an opposition alliance, convincing Corazon Aquino to run for president and Salvador Laurel to run for vice president.

We will conclude our story in tomorrow’s posting.

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Hi Everyone!

Today, we will continue with Mama’s story of Philippine independence.

Philippine Independence Day (Filipino:Araw ng Kasarinlan, Araw ng Kalayaan) commemorating the country’s declaration of independence from Spain on June 12, 1898 is a regular holiday in the Philippines.
The event was led by General Emilio Aguinaldo in his mansion on June 12, 1898. The flag of the Philippines, which was made in Hong Kong by Marcela Agoncillo, was first flown in that event. It is, also, where the Philippine National Anthem, composed by Julian Felipe, was first played by the San Francisco de Malabon band. The song was played under the name Marcha Filipina Magdalo, later renamed as Marcha Nacional Filipina.

The Philippines celebrated its Independence Day every July 4, the date in 1946 that the United States granted independence to the nation, until 1962. In that year, President Diosdado Macapagal signed the Presidential Proclamation No. 28, changing the official celebration to June 12, the date in 1898 that Emilio Aguinaldo declared the nation’s independence from Spain. The government  offically named June 12 as Araw ng Kalayaan (Independence Day) and July 4 as Republic Day and Philippine-American Friendship Day.
On June 12, 1998, the nation celebrated its centennial year of Independence from Spain. The celebrations were held simultaneously nationwide by, then, President Fidel V. Ramos and Filipino communities worldwide. A commission was established for the said event. The National Centennial Commission, headed by former Vice President Salvador Laurel, presided over all events around the country. One of the major projects of the commission was the Expo Pilipino, a grand showcase of the Philippines’ growth as a nation for the last 100 years, located in the Clark Special Economic Zone (formerly the  United States Air Force  Clark Air Base) in Angeles City, Pampanga.

In future postings, Mama and I will continue with the history of the Philippines and the beautiful culture of our people.

See you tomorrow!

Technorati Tags: Celebration, Emilio Aguinaldo, Philippine History, Philippine Independence, President Macapagal

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