The demands of valor today

Today’s holiday, known as “Araw ng Kagitingan” or “Day of Valor,” is meant to honor the memory of the brave men and women who fought in World War II.

More specifically, it recalls the courage, sacrifice and fortitude of the thousands of Filipinos and Americans who valiantly defended Corregidor against the invading Japanese, moved the battle to nearby Bataan, and for three grueling months struggled against superior arms and numbers, malnutrition, and disease to stall the Japanese advance. When Bataan “fell,” some 75,000 survivors, who had dubbed themselves the “battling bastards of Bataan” were forced to endure the ultimate punishment: the infamous “Death March” that covered some 100 kilometers to Capas, Tarlac.

Already weakened by starvation and illness, many fell along the way, or were executed by the victors who, it is said, looked with disdain on the prisoners of war who were deemed inferiors for losing to them. Only 54,000 of the prisoners who embarked on the march survived. But even after being released from Camp O’Donnell in Tarlac, many of the survivors ended up forming or joining various guerrilla groups that harassed Japanese patrols and sent back intelligence to American forces sheltered in Australia.

Indeed, they were or are our “greatest generation,” worthy heirs of the Filipinos who sacrificed their lives and youth to free these islands from the Spanish, and later, American colonizers.

As we observe “Araw ng Kagitingan” today, many may bask in the comfort of knowing we live in a country that is free of foreign domination, where Filipinos are free to pursue the collective goal for a better life. The main vehicle for maintaining this freedom is our participatory democracy, which we will demonstrate next month when we troop to the polls to elect our next leaders, from the national to the most basic local levels.

Truly, valor is a value reserved not only for soldiers at war or for today’s (almost) post-pandemic iterations: medical frontliners, service workers, teachers, even delivery riders.

Because in the month remaining until the May 9 polls, all Filipinos old enough to vote are called upon to put on the mantle of heroism. We are called upon, simply by filling in the empty circles beside the names of our chosen candidates, to shape the future of our country. And not just for the next three to six years, but far into the future.

We are indeed at a crossroads. Should the vote go one way, we face the prospect of having to continue living within the existing environment of repression, corruption, officially-sanctioned violence, and misogynistic policies. Also looming, not far from our shores, is the threat—or is it actuality?—of domination and continued interference in our national affairs by a foreign power, the result of the toadying and defeatist stance of the current powers that be.

Looking the other way, we face the dawning of a return to the old-time values that used to define our public life. Values like accountability, honesty, probity, competence, and openness, even to competing ideas and viewpoints. We will not use the word “decency,” as this has been weaponized into an insult, a way of codifying elitism and condescension. What an irony indeed! Instead, we will use the word “inclusion,” a state of affairs that is open even to dissenting voices, that recognizes the freedom of individuals as long as their behavior doesn’t endanger others, and considers and acts upon problems even before they reach crisis proportions.

The choices confront us up and down the structures of governance, from the national to the provincial, to cities and towns, from senators who are voted by the nation at large, to congressional representatives and party list groupings. We are called upon to make choices at every level and to consider every candidate.

This is what heroism and valor demand of us today. It is nothing more than responsible citizenship, the exercise of one’s vote responsibly and soberly, putting in the effort to know every woman and man who asks for our support, and voting according to one’s conscience, with the welfare of future generations in mind.