Cory Day? Not yet.

From the Manila Standard
Aquino as hero? Hold your horses, says historian
by Fel V. Maragay

THE chairman of the National Historical Institute yesterday cautioned lawmakers against a proposal to declare the late President Corazon Aquino a national hero by legislation.

Testifying before the Senate, Ambeth Ocampo said historians normally waited for at least 10 years after the death of a patriotic figure to gain a historical perspective before endorsing any proposal to make him or her a national hero.

Even in the process of canonizing saints, proponents had to wait five years, he added.

“We cannot legislate heroes. Heroes are made by acclamation, and I think we have seen that in Cory’s case. But we still need some perspective,” Ocampo told the Senate committee on education, arts and culture led by Senator Mar Roxas.

Within days of Mrs. Aquino’s death on Aug. l, Roxas filed Senate Joint Resolution 28 to declare Jan. 25, her birth date, as Corazon Aquino Day.

At the House of Representatives, Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza went farther by proposing that the country’s first woman president be declared a hero by Congress.

Ocampo said no Congress had declared any of the great Filipinos a national hero. He said even Jose Rizal was not a declared national hero.

“We are happy that this [Senate] resolution stopped short of declaring Cory a national hero as they have done in the Lower House,” he said.

Ocampo said the institute supported a resolution to declare a Cory Aquino Day, but added Jan. 25, her birthday, might be “too close to Christmas.”

The date need not be declared a non-working holiday.

“The holiday is actually supposed to make the people remember,’’ Ocampo said.

“That is the intent, but in practice we actually see the people going to the shopping malls instead of observing the holiday.”

Ocampo said Mrs. Aquino could be honored through other ways, like naming a street, a hospital or a school after her, to perpetuate her memory.

Education Undersecretary Wilma Labrador, also chairman of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts, said Mrs. Aquino was widely admired for her role in restoring democracy.