26/08/2019
FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES: Project Saysay shares the 10-point criteria for recognizing heroes. The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) has collected these profound definitions of a hero from three government initiatives to proclaim "national heroes" in 1965, 1993, and 1995. These were formulated by no less than the National Scientists in the field of Social Sciences: Teodoro Agoncillo who prepared the first set of four criteria, Onofre D. Corpuz the next three, and Alfredo Lagmay the remaining three. The first set was adopted by the Philippines Historical Committee (PHC) to help the then National Heroes Commission (NHC) in celebrating the milestones of other nationally significant heroes aside from Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, and Apolinario Mabini. (Due to overlapping mandates, President Ferdinand Marcos merged the two agencies and other history-related committees into one as National Historical Institute [NHI] upon the imposition of Martial Law in 1971.) While the last two sets were considered by the National Heroes Committee* in an attempt to proclaim the official "national heroes" of the country, although nothing happened. State-sponsored proclamation of heroes has been an issue among the historians, including those who succeeded in running the NHI, stressing that a hero must be a product of public acclamation and of time.
Upholding the principle of public acclamation, NHCP reuses the criteria it acquired from its predecessors (i.e., PHC, NHC, NHI) by codifying these for internal use.
These criteria were not recognized as official definitions of a hero by the Supreme Court during the oral arguments on President Marcos' burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in 2016. “There is no established body or agency who can determine who is a hero or not… not the Supreme Court, the legislative or the President,” said Associate Justice Jose Perez during the said oral arguments. Then Associate Justice and later Supreme Court Chief Justice Teresita de Castro reiterated that “there seems to be no established guidelines as to who are heroes, who are disqualified.”
*A presidential committee organized by President Fidel Ramos in 1993.