Walking With Heroes - Glimpses

By Jose Ma. Montelibano
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 03:02am (Mla time) 06/22/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- I remember in August 1983 when Ninoy Aquino was scheduled to arrive in Manila after more than three years in exile. My wife was part of a group tasked to feed the crowd that was expected to greet him at the Manila International Airport. That only meant making sandwiches, as no one expected to be at the airport for a long time. We ended up having a lot of sandwiches made, and arranged for their delivery to a drop-off point, because we went to Quezon province the day before. When we returned to Manila the next day, Ninoy had been assassinated, or better still, executed, in the crudest of manner amid what must have been the most heavily guarded airport in the world.

The next three years saw a people angered to a point that they defied a dictatorship they had feared for more than 10 years. Many had died from 1972 to 1983 and more would die until Fredinand Marcos, pressured by the United States, called for a snap election. The campaign to install Cory Aquino as president was wild and bloody, but the election did happen and Marcos had himself declared winner by a Congress made up mostly of his political minions. As a result, the people reacted and a miraculous, peaceful people power revolution emerged as the mankind's newest format for societal change.

For some strange reason, the whole week has riveted my attention to heroes and heroism. It may be that I am eagerly anticipating a great gathering of Filipinos, including quite a number of Filipino-Americans, Filipino-Canadians and Filipino-Australians, at the Araneta Coliseum. The Gawad Kalinga (GK) movement is staging an inspirational rally in which its workers, advocates, partners and residents in GK villages can converge and renew commitments to be their brothers' keepers in a crusade to build a nation that we and our children can all be proud of. After introducing an initiative called GK1MB (Gawad Kalinga Isang Milyong Bayani, or Gawad Kalinga One Mission Heroes) last year at the Quezon Circle, in Quezon City, more than 10,000 Filipinos here and abroad have become card-carrying Gawad Kalinga advocates who pledge to contribute a minimum number of hours helping the movement to grow worldwide.

But this sense of heroes and heroism has been a thread in my consciousness, triggered by so many individuals and events. I was reminded while cleaning my computer of old files about our heroine, Biyo the teacher with a planet now to her name, when I read a speech she had made years ago. Then, I watched Dr. Martin Bautista of the Ang Kapatiran fame follow less heralded footsteps of other Filipinos who, after being successful in America, returned to their motherland to roll up their sleeves and try to lift the poor, the sick and the despairing to a better quality of life. And last night, I watched a TV show about this teacher in Nueva Vizcaya province walk for many, many hours to teach illiterate adults in upland villages, with her aching body amply soothed by a joyful and determined spirit.

Why are there so many Filipinos today who feel an inner urge to be heroes for the poor and the young? Is there something in the air that attracts them to cross the line of comfort and wade into a zone of sacrifice? I can understand the natural feelings of those in the older generation as they look at their lives and the lives of their children and grandchildren,

Like many of them, I reflect on what has been and what we have today that we will leave to the next generations. And sharing the sentiments of many who are approaching or already are in their senior citizens' status, I feel shame at the legacy of poverty, corruption and violence that my children will have to grapple with. I feel fear that crass materialism and consumerism will swallow the soul of the young, that warped values of the world will be massively spread through technology. I feel agitated, wanting to undo many things but overwhelmed at the dominance of immorality in leadership and the tolerance of wrongdoing by the majority.

My excitement escalates, however, and outpaces my fears and apprehensions. There is a surge of goodwill and patriotism mixed with the nostalgia that most Filipinos abroad feel for their homeland. How many Filipinos here know that hundreds of Filipino-Americans join major marathons in the US wearing red-shirt uniforms saying “Heroes Run.” Each runner raises funds for at least one house for the poor in the Philippines, and in 2007, about 700 Filipino-American runners have signified their intent to join the Heroes Run.

Many, though, have gone beyond running marathons in the US to actually save up for a trip back to the Philippines and join house-building activities in GK villages. It is also a source of great pride for Filipinos when prestigious universities like Yale, MIT, Georgetown and others either allow their students or actually send them to the Philippines to study possible poverty intervention programs. Again, GK has managed to stimulate enough interest by the images of decent and brightly colored homes and happy faces of the poor. Its impact is not anymore just local but going international as well.

When second generation Filipino-Americans begin to find themselves visiting the Philippines, many of them for the first time, a trend is established and many believe it will become a recurring pattern for thousands of Filipinos abroad to follow. Simultaneously, colleges and universities in Metro Manila have adopted GK as their favorite community development program where they can send their students to immerse and evolve fresh ideas on how to help the poor.

If we go from town to town, province to province, we will see a new demand for decency among ordinary Filipinos, a new form of idealism from the young, a new stirring of hope from the poor. If we go from country to country where Filipinos have settled in order to escape an environment that offered little opportunity, we will find them with a growing optimism that meaningful change can actually happen. It might have been the senatorial elections. Or, it might be a growing belief that young military and police officers will adhere more faithfully to human rights provisions.

What is important is that despair is waning and hope is emerging. It is less the achievement of government and more the contribution of ordinary Filipinos. And undoubtedly, the yearning of Filipinos abroad to help their native land and the continuing arrival of their young in order to reconnect with their roots, reflect a shift that can become a tidal wave. At last, heroes can once again walk the land, and we can walk with them.