National Heroes of the Philippines
As a national hero of the Philippines or national hero of the Philippines , the most important men and women be considered that the history of the island nation decisively influenced, have built him and embossed.
So far there has been no state regulation as to which persons may and cannot be officially designated as national heroes.
Besides Jose Rizal , Andrés Bonifacio is the only other person who is widely recognized as a folk hero in the Philippines. His birthday, November 30th, is celebrated in the Philippines as a national holiday, like December 30th dedicated to Rizal.
Current condition
In fact, there is no official stipulation, nor is there a legal basis or official publication that would legally declare any historical figure in the Philippines as a national hero. Nonetheless, it is considered necessary to make and formalize such a definition in order to highlight and honor the important role that various people have contributed to the building of the Filipino nation.
Even the most important and significant personality in Filipino history, Jose Rizal , has not yet been officially named as a national hero. This importance that he has in Filipino society is only expressed through an ongoing admiration and veneration of Filipinos. It is to be understood as a confirmation of Rizal's contribution to the important social transformations that have taken place on the island nation.
The National Heroes Committee
In order to initiate and promote an official selection and official specification of the national heroes of the Philippines, President Fidel Ramos put together a commission whose task it was to deal with this issue.
This committee, the National Heroes Committee, was convened on March 28, 1993 by Executive Order (Presidential Order) No. 75 by President Ramos. This order was entitled: "Establishment of the National Heroes Committee by the Office of the President". The task of the committee has been and is to study and judge the great figures of Filipino history, in order to remind the people of these people and to highlight the exceptional achievements they have made for their nation.
criteria
The Technical Committee of the National Heroes' Committee held a series of meetings between June 3, 1993 and November 15, 1995 to describe, discuss, and deliberate on the merits of the various definitions and criteria that make up a folk hero. The committee eventually used the following criteria as the basis for their historical research and for their decisions as to which Filipino personality should be eligible for official nomination as a national hero.
Definition according to Onofre Corpuz
Onofre D. Corpuz's definition is as follows:
1. Heroes are those who have an idea of a nation and who strive for the freedom of that nation and fight for it.
Note on this point:
- Our own struggle for freedom began with Bonifacio and ended with Aguinaldo , who ultimately formally proclaimed the success of the revolution. In reality, a revolution, however, never ends. Rather, revolutions are just the beginning. An individual can never enforce a striving for freedom on his own, he would only fall back into his (original) fetters.
2. Heroes are those who establish a system and a life in freedom and order for a nation and contribute to it.
Note on this point:
- Freedom without order only leaves anarchy in the lead. Therefore heroes are those who make a national constitution and its law, such as Mabini and Recto. Regarding the latter, it should be added that the constitution is only the beginning; it is ultimately the people who live under the constitution who truly establish a nation.
3. Heroes are those who contribute to the quality of the living environment and the fate of a nation.
Definition according to Alfredo Lagmay
Further criteria were expressed by Alfredo Lagmay:
1. A hero is part of people's expression. But the process of internalizing a hero's life and achievement takes time and involves the formation of youth as part of that internalization.
2. A hero thinks of the future, especially that of the younger generations.
3. Choosing a hero does not just involve reporting an episode or event in the story; only a complete résumé makes a hero out of a certain person.
Summary definition
In general, those people can be described as Filipino national heroes who fought for freedom and independence or who fought against oppression. Many of these heroes were revolutionaries who stood against Spanish oppression. There were also those who stood up for the maintenance of this freedom and independence, contributed to this freedom and in some way strengthened and stabilized it.
The Filipino National Heroes
A total of nine historical figures were selected by the National Heroes Committee and recommended on November 15, 1995 for receiving the honorary title of national hero.
This compilation was submitted to the Philippine Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport on November 22, 1995. However, there was no further processing. It has been speculated that it would take a large number of requests for a proclamation to initiate activity. It may also be necessary to initiate debates dealing with the controversial issues surrounding the historical figures concerned. In fact, such activity has not yet taken place.
The following nine people were proposed by the National Heroes Committee:
José Rizal
José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonzo Realonda (born June 19, 1861 in Calamba City on Luzón - † December 30, 1896 in Manila ) was a Filipino writer , patriot , physicist and a man of words, whose life and literary work were an inspiration to the Filipino independence movement was. He is the most important national hero of the Philippines.
Rizal made extensive trips to Belgium , England , France , Hong Kong , Japan , Switzerland , Spain , Austria-Hungary and through the USA . He also lived in Germany for a long time and successfully studied medicine in Heidelberg .
Andrés Bonifacio
Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (born November 30, 1863 - † May 10, 1897) was a Filipino revolutionary and one of the top rebel leaders of the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonial rule in the late 19th century. He is known as the "father of the Philippine Revolution" and one of the most influential national heroes in his country. Bonifacio was the founder of the Katipunan , an organization that had the goal of initiating an independence movement against the Spaniards in his country.
Emilio Aguinaldo
Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (born March 22, 1869 in Cavite El Viejo (now Kawit ) - † February 6, 1964 in Quezon City ) was a Filipino general, politician and independence leader within the Katipunan . He played an instrumental role in the Filipino Revolution against Spanish colonial rule, as well as in the Filipino-American War .
In the Philippines, Aguinaldo is considered the country's first and youngest president , although his government never received foreign recognition. In 1899 he proclaimed Philippine independence and fought against the new American occupation power until 1901.
Apolinario Mabini
Apolinario Mabini y Maranan (born July 23, 1864 in Tanauan , † May 13, 1903 in Manila ), also known as the "paralyzed genius" and referred to as the "brain of the revolution", was a Filipino politician and theorist who created the Filipino Written the Constitution of the First Philippine Republic (1899-1901) and was appointed the first Prime Minister of the Philippines in 1899 .
Marcelo H. del Pilar
Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaytan (born August 30, 1850 - † July 4, 1896) was a celebrated personality during the Philippine Revolution and a leading reform propagandist in the Philippines. Known to the general public as Plaridel , he was the author and co-editor of La Solidaridad newspaper . He tried to organize the national sentiment of the enlightened Filipino Ilustrados (educated locals) and the bourgeoisie against Spanish imperialism .
Sultan Dipatuan Kudarat
Sultan Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat (also pronounced as Qudarat , * 1581 - † 1671) was the seventh Sultan of Maguindanao .
During his reign he successfully kept the Spanish conquerors away from his sultanate, which occupied most of the island of Mindanao and at that time was the most influential area of power in the south of the Philippines. He is a direct descendant of Sharif Kabungsuan , a Muslim missionary who founded the Sultanate of Maguindanao in the 15th century.
Juan Luna
Juan Luna y Novicio (* October 23, 1857 - † December 7, 1899) was an important Filipino painter who was well-known beyond the borders of his country.
His most important work, The Spoliarium , for which he won the main prize at the Madrid Exhibition in 1884, is currently on display in the National Museum in Manila.
Two years after his return to the Philippines, he was arrested on suspicion of sedition . He was later pardoned. His brother, General Antonio Luna , was an active member of the Katipunan insurgent movement.
Melchora Aquino
Melchora Aquino de Ramos (* January 6, 1812 - † March 2, 1919) was a Filipino revolutionary who in the history of the island state as "Tandang Sora" ("Tandang" is derived from the word matanda from the Tagalog language and means old ), as she was already old when the Philippine Revolution broke out in 1896.
In her hometown she had a camp that was a refuge for sick and wounded revolutionaries. She fed the wounded, gave them medical treatment and encouraged the revolutionary fighters with her motherly advice and prayers. Secret meetings of the "Katipuneros" took place in her home. In this way they earned the title Mother of the Katipunan (Mother of the Katipunan) or mother of the revolution . When the Spaniards became aware of their activities, they were arrested and deported to the Mariana Islands .
Gabriela Silang
María Josefa Gabriela Cariño Silang (born March 19, 1731 - † September 29, 1763) was the first Filipino woman to lead a revolt during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines . As an active member of the insurgents under Diego Silang , her husband, she led the group for four months after his death until she was captured and executed.
Other important personalities
In addition to the people proposed by the National Heroes Committee above, there are a number of other personalities who are considered characters and folk heroes by the general public in the Philippines, having shaped their country and made a lasting impact on the nation.
Lapu-Lapu
King Lapu-Lapu, also Kolipulako (1491–1542), was the tribal chief of the island of Mactan and one of the first historically recorded warriors of the Filipino martial arts , including the use of the campilan and the machete .
He is credited with killing Ferdinand Magellan when he tried to conquer his island with Portuguese and Spanish soldiers.
Gregorio del Pilar
Gregorio del Pilar (born November 14, 1875 - † December 2, 1899) was the youngest and often pictorially circumscribed general of the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War . He was referred to as a "boy general" because of his youth.
Del Pila, the youngest general in the Revolutionary Army at the age of 24, fought against American troops during the Philippine-American War. On December 2, 1899 he was killed as commanding officer of Emilio Aguinaldo's rearguard at the Tirad Pass.
He has therefore remained in people's minds as the hero of Tirad Passe and also earned the respect of an officer and gentleman from the opposing Americans.
Francisco Baltazar
Francisco Baltazar (Balagtas) (born April 2, 1788 - † February 20, 1862), was a well-known Filipino poet and is known across national borders as the Tagalog equivalent of William Shakespeare , due to its importance for Filipino literature. The most famous epic, Florante at Laura , is considered to be his most formative work.
Born in Bigaa in Central Bulacan , Balagtas mostly worked under the strict supervision of monks. Topics had to fall under the constraints of official religious topics and had to be kept in recommended beats and structures. Despite these restrictions, he accepted all obstacles and switched to symbolic poetry, which he regarded as a medium to convey his messages.
In metrics and equipped with metaphors , he carried out his protest against the colonial tyranny of the Spaniards in Tagalog . The monks thought that “Florante at Laura”, his most famous work, was about Christians and Moore who dueled to the end in a mythical kingdom. In reality, he was portraying the injustices the Filipinos suffered at the hands of the Spaniards and the atrocities wrought by the Spanish regime.
Balagtas is known as the King of Tagalog Poems. (King of the Tagalog poems).
Emilio Jacinto
Emilio Jacinto (born December 15, 1875 - † April 16, 1899) was born in Trozo, Manila . He was a revolutionary and is considered the brain of the Katipunan .
He joined the Katipunan Brotherhood at the beginning of the Philippine Revolution in 1896 . At the age of 19, he served Andres Bonifacio , the founder and leader of the Katipunan, as a clerk, secretary and financial advisor. He also published the Kalayaan newspaper, wrote the Kartilya ng Katipunan , the guidelines of the Katipunan.
In 1898 he led the revolutionary troops as a general against the Spanish occupation forces in the battle of Maimpis near Magdalena in the province of Laguna . He suffered a serious wound and was captured by the Spaniards. His wound was treated and when it healed he was able to escape by impersonating another man. On April 16, 1899, he became infected with malaria and died at the age of 23.
Web links
- List of Filipino National Heroes
- Further list of Filipino folk heroes ( Memento from March 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- Selection and naming of the national heroes and distinguished historical figures of the Philippines. (PDF; 16 kB) Research Bureau Legislative Research Service, House of Congress