What could Kieth Absalon have become had his life not been snuffed out on June 6 in Barangay Anas in Masbate City? He is buried now, “finis” so abruptly stamped on his 21-year life, at that point when, in an ideal world, hopes and dreams are just beginning to be realized and promise to open new doors, each more thrilling than the last. When he went out biking on that morning with his cousin Nolven Absalon,
June 19, 2021 is Jose Rizal’s 160th birthday, another excuse to accept or argue his continuing relevance. Instead of debating about who should be our National Hero or expanding our horizon to think plural as in National Heroes and Heroines, it might be useful to reflect on Brecht’s warning: “Cursed is a nation that has need for heroes.” Last weekend, we had the usual flag raising and commemoration of Philippine Independence. This annual event always invites someone saying that the official June 12, 1898 date is a sham or “fake news”; these counterfactuals argue that our true independence day should be
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