Of celebrities, heroes

L’affaire Angelo de la Cruz brings out both positive and negative aspects of the Filipino character. It reveals first of all that in moments of crisis, Filipinos are still capable of setting aside whatever differences they have and rally behind a compatriot in grave danger of losing his life. More revealing still is their admirable faith and undying hope on God Almighty as manifested by their fervent prayer in the face of a seemingly difficult if not impossible situation of trying to save a life in the hands of terrorists without compunction in butchering human beings. Their prayerful stance would have been more praiseworthy and efficacious if done away from the limelight and in the most private and intimate supplications coming from sincere and contrite hearts. Those repetitious panalangin at kandila aired by a media outfit somehow dented the spiritual value of the whole exercise. Once would have been enough but airing it repeatedly for the nth time betrays an unholy intention of riding on the wave of a popular crest now sweeping the nation.

And this brings us to certain undesirable traits now surfacing more prominently because of media hype. It seems that the Philippines are running out of heroes and producing more celebrities. I am not really sure what I will do if I find myself in the same situation as Angelo. I might have also done what he is doing by appealing to the government to save my life for the sake of my family. I don’t know. But every-time I look at the video footage showing him at the hands of his merciless captors, the picture that swiftly comes to mind is that of the late Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos meeting his death bravely and calmly staring at the Japanese kempeitais with deadly samurai blade pressed on his neck. He gallantly gave up his life rather than gave in to their demands and betray his country, As I sat on my comfortable rocking chair in front of the TV screen, I pictured Angelo telling his countrymen and our President: "Don’t heed the demands of these cowards. I am ready to die for my country" I thought that seldom is such opportunity given to any person as that given to Angelo. He would have emerged a greater and larger than life hero had he done that. And he would have spared the country of the shame it is now reaping just because it values the life of even a single Filipino more than national honor.

I am not faulting Angelo for what he did. Working in such a dangerous place and putting his life in danger so that his family can live decently is heroic enough. This is more of an indictment on our society. We are no longer capable of producing heroes in the mold of Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos and others like him who gave up their lives for the country. Somehow we have lost our focus in life. We have concentrated more on our temporal concerns and almost forgotten that there is another more valuable life which we may lose if we love life in this world so much. The spirit of true heroism has simply deserted us because we have lost sight of a more sublime life that never ends.

Hopefully, Angelo de la Cruz will be able to return alive into the loving arms of his wife and eight children. We are all praying for this. And when he arrives, he deserves to be accorded a hero’s welcome. Media will certainly play another important part here and lionize Angelo, making him another celebrity. Nothing wrong there except that with his celebrity status, he may become another of the many celebrities we already have and less of a hero.

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