Heroes

LAPU-LAPU

He was the King of Mactan Island and was known as the first Filipino hero.  When Ferdinand Magellan, "discovered" the Philippines, landed in Cebu, he ordered Filipinos to honor the king of Spain, Rajah Humabon.  Chief Lapu-Lapu refused his demand.  Magellan, along with 60 soldiers, met Lapu-Lapu in Mactan Island for a battle.  During the battle, Magellan and 15 of his men were killed.  For 54 years
thereafter, no Spaniard set foot in the Philippine soil.   

JOSE P. RIZAL (June 19, 1861 - December 30, 1896)

Rizal, our national hero, was born in Calamba, Laguna.  His parents were Francisco Mercado Rizal and Teodora Alonso.  He was educated in Europe and obtained his license in opthamology and philiosphy in France.  He wrote Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Rebel) in Europe, which told about the oppression of Spanish colonial rule.  In 1892, when Rizal returned to the
Philippines, he formed La Liga Filipina, a forum for Filipinos to express their hopes for reform and freedom from the oppressive Spanish colonial administration.  He was arrested as a revolutionary and was exiled in Dapitan, Mindanao.  His writings and La Liga Filipina were banned.  Later, he was
imprisoned in Fort Santiago, Manila after a trial.  On December 30, 1896, he was executed by a firing squad at Bagumbayan, now known as Luneta, in Manila for spreading ideals of revolution.  On the eve of his execution, Rizal wrote his famous poem Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell):

                          Farewell, dear fatherland, clime of the sun caress'd.
                          Pearl of the Orient seas, our Eden lost!
                          Gladly now I go to give thee this faded life's best,
                          And were it brighter, fresher or more blest,
                          Still I would give it thee, nor count the cost.

GREGORIO DEL PILAR  (November 14, 1875 - December 2, 1899)

He is remembered as the "Hero of Tirad Pass" and to the Americans as an "Officer and a Gentleman."  Pilar, at 24, was the youngest general in the Revolutionary Army, who fought bravely against the
Americans, with only 60 men.  On December 2, 1899, he was killed in the Tirad Pass while commanding Aguinaldo's rearguard.  Before his death, he wrote, "I am surrounded by fearful odds that will
overcome me and my gallant men, but I am pleased to die fighting for my beloved country."  The Tirad Pass has been declared a national shrine.

MARCELO H. DEL PILAR  (August 30, 1850 - July 4, 1896)

He established the newspaper, Diaryong Tagalog, which published criticisms on the way the Spaniards ran the government and treated its people.  In Spain, he became editor of La Solidaridad founded by Graciano Lopez Jaena.  For six years, he wrote articles on the theme of liberty and equality for the Filipinos.  Copies were smuggled into the Philippines in Tagalog and were read by the
revolutionists.  On July 4, 1896, he died of tuberculosis in Barcelona, a pauper, away from his family.