It’s time Filipinos revisit the very notion that Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr is a national “hero”? What exactly did he do that was so heroic? Did he invent a longer-lasting lightbulb? Did he cure cancer? Did he lead an army to victory?
What exactly did Ninoy do?
This, after all, is an age of Marvel superheroes. Filipinos join the rest of the world in being the biggest fans of the products of the wildly-profitable Marvel Universe franchise. One wonders then how the average Spidey fan reconciles the exceptional skills needed to fit the hero criteria applied to showbiz characters and the criteria applied to a country’s “national heroes”.
The actions of heroes, after all, make a difference to the lives of ordinary people. One would be hard-pressed to cite an example of how Aquino’s “heroism” resulted in such an outcome. Are ordinary Filipinos better off after his supposed “martyrdom” at the international airport that now bears his name?
It’s time Filipinos start thinking outside of the square. They should decide whether they should remain fixated on a definition of “hero” concocted by a clan driven more by their oligarchic interests than that of the broader public or ditch that in favour of what REALLY defines a true hero.
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