Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra at Mount Samat. Photo courtesy of PIA-3
PILAR, Bataan — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Saturday compared the sacrifices of overseas Filipino workers and other migrants to the heroism of Filipino soldiers during World War II.
Guevarra led in the celebration of the 80th Araw ng Kagitingan at the Shrine of Valor atop historic Mount Samat here.
“The march of the soldiers during the World War II is one of the cruelest things they experienced. This is one form of heroism compared to the displacement of Filipinos working abroad,” the secretary said.
Guevarra said the migration of the Filipino people is moored in their commitment to serve family above self and their ardent desire to make real for their loved ones a future much better than what they inherited.
He said it is this commitment that has allowed them to endure conditions far harsher than loneliness for the survival and betterment of the ones they have left behind. They are committed to serve their families and their loved ones for a chance to get out of poverty and live with comfort and dignity, he said.
“Our people’s hope to improve their loved one’s future continuously sparks in them immense courage. It is this courage, this boldness in spirit, invoked by the image of a family living a decent life that gives our national anthem’s last line, ‘ang mamatay nang dahil sa’yo’ its most intimate meaning,” Guevarra added.
The secretary stated that the labor of these Filipinos across the seas created an improved quality of life to their families, and aided the country towards its economic rebound with two years of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Guevarra highlighted that heroism should also be hoped in the upcoming 2022 national and local elections in choosing the next leaders of the country.
“Come election day, the Filipinos will again march to the polls, unafraid and determined. They will do so in the tradition of the soldiers who, 80 years ago, marched in this province unbowed neither by the threat nor by the certainty of great, personal peril. May that day be a proof of the anthem of our race, ‘ang kislap ng watawat mo’y tagumpay na nagningning, ang bituin at araw niya kailanpa ma’y ‘di magdidilim’,” he furthered.
He said the voters should again manifest their capacity to think beyond self, and to vote wisely and courageously by electing a competent and forward-looking government.
The Philippine Information Agency reported that in the speech of President Duterte delivered by the justice secretary, the chief executive underscored that heroism is also demonstrated by the doctors, nurses, medical personnel, and professionals who willingly stepped up to the frontlines to treat those who were sick and infected with the coronavirus disease.
“As of last year, over a hundred of medical frontliners, constituting a veritable heritage of our national medical expertise, have been forever lost in our fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. In turn, countless lives have been saved by their selfless service and sacrifice,” the message stated.
The president said it was also manifested in the contribution of the ordinary Filipino who complied with their duty of observing the minimum public health standards against the disease to mitigate the risk of further infection on the communities.
