Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 6) — A neophyte senator on Friday filed a bill calling for an official proclamation of the country’s national heroes.
Senate Bill 999, authored by Senator Imee Marcos, calls for the establishment of a council that will study, evaluate, recommend, select, and declare Filipino personages as national heroes based on their accomplishments and contribution to the country.
The proposed National Heroes Council will work under the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP). It will consists of the chairperson of the NHCP, one representative each from the Department of Education and National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and two Philippine history experts from the academe.
Under the bill, national heroes will be selected based on the following:
– significant and lasting contribution to the country
– enriched the lives of others
– contribution to quality of life f the people
– considered as outstanding in their area of activity
– with a biography that inspired the country
“A nation that does not recognize its heroes loses hope for heroism in the future,” Marcos said in a statement.
“Let an official proclamation of heroes today be an anchor of patriotism for Filipinos of the future,” she added.
Marcos earlier said the country technically has no official heroes.
She said the Philippine National Heroes Committee in 1995 officially recommended the likes of National Hero Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Apolinario Mabini, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Sultan Dipatuan Kudarat, Juan Luna, Melchora Aquino, and Gabriela Silang to be called heroes.
The issue, however, “deteriorated into a debate involving regional interests that never was resolved,” she said.
Marcos also called for the inclusion of Macario Sakay, a general who fought in the Philippine revolution against Spain, to the roster of national heroes.
