EDITORIAL - Marcos cannot be a hero in a land with no heroes

Today is Bonifacio Day, a holiday observed in honor of Andres Bonifacio, the founder of the Philippine Revolution against Spain. Like Jose Rizal, Bonifacio is impliedly recognized as a national hero, even if both cannot be regarded legally as such, the Philippines not having officially declared anyone a national hero. In 1995, the National Heroes Committee recommended nine individuals to be declared national heroes but the recommendation remains unacted to this day.

In whatever way it may help, these facts may lend some relevance to the ongoing debate regarding the burial of the late dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Much of the anger and resentment centers on the assertion that Marcos does not deserve to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani because he was not a hero. In the sense that nobody is really a hero by legal definition in the Philippines, then the remains buried there could not have been the exception.

In other words, all the angst about the Marcos burial is all for nothing. It cannot even be argued as symbolic because symbolic heroism cannot exist in a place erroneously named as the final resting place for heroes in the absence of real heroes. Perhaps the obscure suggestion made in the course of the huge uproar over the burial that the Libingan just simply be renamed may now make some real sense after all.

For indeed how can one call the Libingan the Libingan ng mga Bayani when in truth and in fact there are no "bayanis" or heroes who have officially and legally been recognized as such in this country. Even Rizal, and Bonifacio for that matter, two of those who are impliedly recognized in school textbooks as national heroes, and in fact the only two who are subject to national holiday observances, are not buried at the Libingan.

Bonifacio, significantly, has had his memory even relegated to the sidelines in favor of Emilio Aguinaldo, his rival, who had him killed. Markers at the place where Bonifacio was killed have been shown in an old television documentary to have been overgrown by vegetation, as if to imply forgetfulness, or even the callousness of a people.

And yet there is this great uproar over the Marcos burial, and all that it supposedly implies on the matter of heroism. Well, it implies nothing. Marcos is not a hero because nobody is. The Libingan ng mga Bayani could not be a final resting place for heroes for the same reason. Even the only two people, Rizal and Bonifacio, who are impliedly recognized in the hearts of Filipinos as real heroes are not there.

All the noise about heroes and heroism have been for nothing. It had been and perhaps always will be a wasteful exercise in light of the real circumstances. To those who fear a revision of history, the fear is terribly unfounded. History can never be revised. It can only be seen in a variety of lights. And that is no longer the concern of anyone because everyone sees things differently.