Gorillas, guerillas and other unsung heroes

The country commemorated National Heroes Day on Monday. There was not much fanfare from the government other than preparing moves to pacify members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo who took to the streets last week.

During my not so long ago college days, in our “Rizal and Other Heroes” class, our professor Lino Baron asked us to research about unsung heroes. We were told to prove our hero’s greatness against Raul Manglapus’ ‘Characteristics of a Hero.’ I remember very well how we giggled when one of our classmates from Surigao reported that his grandfather was his unsung hero. When he was asked why, with pride and conviction and in a well-modulated voice with matching fist in the air he declared: “My lolo is a hero because he was a gorilla.”