BROWN HEROES

They died for our country; they sacrificed for our motherland, have you wondered how old our heroes then? They fought so young, and died so young, have you imagined fighting for freedom at the age of 18 or 35 years old? When I was younger I thought our heroes were around 40’s or 50’s but then again, as I grow up I realized they were so young, as young as me, and you.

How they became a hero? Or should I ask how to become a hero? What about who are our heroes? Who are they? And what are they? To become a hero you don’t need to have superpowers nor a member of avengers. Our heroes were ordinary humans, they breath, eat, get mad or get hurt or cried, they even fall in love, they loved more our motherland than their selves. Who are our national heroes, or maybe you would probably think who our national hero is? I bet you would answer Dr. Jose’ Rizal, but according to the famous Historian Mr. Ambeth Ocampo, all of them are our national heroes, it so happened when asking people, almost all of them answered Dr. Jose’ Rizal, but let me say it again, they are all our national heroes. Rizal is more popular than our other national heroes, should we say, he and the tagalog heroes are more popular than our Cebuano speaking heroes, from the visayan to mindanaoan heroes who fought for our freedom, but there are also some tagalog speaking heroes who are overshadowed by our popular national heroes. Who among us recognized the heroism of Macario Sacay?, the thirteen martyrs of cavite or more popularly known as Trece’ Martires or remembers the bravery of Mr. and Mrs. Diego Silang.

Now Let us go to our great visayan and mindaoan heroes, I think some of us here don’t know the heroism of Leon Kilat  ( leon the lightning), or what he did for cebu, so okay, he was born Pantaleon Villegas, he was born on 1873, in Negros Oriental,  He joined the katipunan when he worked in the circus team who happens to be the owner of the said circus team was tagalogs, who are Katipuneros. He also led the revolution in Cebu.  But like the Bonifacio Brothers and General Antonio Luna he was killed by his comrade, stabbed to death my his aide-de-camp Apolinario Alcuitas, Kilat died on 1898 at the very young age of 24 years old.

How about Francisco Dagohoy, is somebody knows him? Or appreciates his heroism? Dagohoy whose real name was   Francisco Sendrijas, a cabeza de barangay or a Barangay Captain in his town in inabanga, bohol. Dagohoy his moniker, a visayan phrase meaning dagon sa huyohoy or in English  talisman of the breeze. Dagohoy led the longest rebellion in Philippines, and it is called THE DAGOHOY REBELLION, it took 85 years, from 1744 to 1829.
 If we have a hero from cebu and bohol, well we have "The Ilongga Heroine" from Pototan, Iloilo, named Teresa Magbanua who was born on 1868, she was popularly known to us as Joan of Arc in the Philippines, she was a revolutionary, an expert marksman and a horseman, his brothers was also died in the hands of traitors. She once a heroine in the Spanish era, and displayed an act of heroism in the japanese occupation. After the war, she moved to Mindanao, where she dies at the age of 79, she also lived a long life like General Aguinaldo.

In Mindanao There is a Sultan named Sultan Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat, He was the Ruler  of  Maguindanao, born on 1581. He successfully defeated the Spaniards who attempted to conquer his Kingdom. Sultan Kudarat was descendant of Shariff Kabungsuwan, he was a Missionary, a Muslim who brought Islam to the Philippines between  13^th to 14^th century. On 1663, Sultan Kudarat’s men or maybe with his men raided baybay,leyte.   

There’s a lot of great men in our country, who are not yet recognized, whether from Spanish era or in our generation, We don’t have to conquer again by the Spanish, americans or Japanese to become a hero, we don’t need to become a member of any revolutionary organization, we don’t have to die young to become a hero, even in a simple thing, we can be a hero. TO ALL BROWNS WHO FOUGHT FOR US, WE SALUTE YOU, AND FOR ALL OF US…LONG LIVE THE PHILIPPINES.