On Nat’l Heroes Day, Imee Marcos says Philippines has none

The Philippines remembers Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio and other personalities on certain dates but the country, Senator Imee Marcos says, has no heroes.

In a statement released on National Heroes' Day, Marcos said no law had been passed naming any person as a hero.

"The reality is that, officially, we have no heroes,” she said in a press statement.

"What we only have are implied heroes, despite having official dates for their commemoration,” she added.

The senator said the Philippine National Heroes Committee officially recommended several people for the designation in 1995.

These included Rizal, Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Apolinario Mabini, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Sultan Dipatuan Kudarat, Juan Luna, Melchora Aquino, and Gabriela Silang.

However, the issue deteriorated into a debate involving regional interests that never was resolved.

She said the only bill that sought to proclaim a national hero was filed by then Bohol Representative Rene Relampagos in 2014, urging the government to declare Rizal as such.

The bill has remained "pending with the Committee on Revision of Laws.”

Before one could be recognized as an official national symbol, a law must be passed first by the Senate and House of Representatives and signed by the President. 

Among the handful of officially recognized symbols are the Philippine eagle as the national bird, the sampaguita as the national flower, narra as the national tree, and the Philippine pearl as the national gem.

Marcos said should the debate on national heroes resume, Macario Sakay should be included in the roster.

She said Sakay was the first president of the Tagalog Republic who fought against Spanish and American colonizers in the Philippines during the early part of the 20th century.

Marcos said Sakay's negative image as a bandit was just black propaganda contrived by American colonial authorities who found it hard to subdue him.

She said the betrayal of Sakay by a fellow Filipino to effect his surrender to the Americans should be taught in history classes. —NB, GMA News