Sacred Heart Cebu Address

Boom Enriquez

iamninoy movement

Sacred Heart Cebu Address

Film Showing of “Last Journey of Ninoy”

November 27, 2009

To the Sacred Heart administrators, faculty, alumni, and of course, to you dear students, a pleasant morning. We, as Filipinos, were fortunate enough that in this month of November, we have witnessed two of our fellow countrymen rise up to the global stage and proclaim themselves heroes in their own right.

Embodying the spirit of Filipino volunteerism that bloomed in this very special year of tragedies and challenges, Efren Penaflorida Jr. was named 2009 CNN Hero of the Year. The Cavite City native pioneered a brand of mobile education or what we call kariton klasrum for the urban poor youth. Let me quote him. In his acceptance speech, he says, “Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need.” Beautifully said.

And of course, who will ever forget as the world was able to witness the raw power and speed of Manny Pacquiao in capturing an unprecedented 7^th world title in 7 weight divisions, the first man to do it. By stopping the Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto, our ‘pambansang kamao’ has made boxing history that we may never be able to see again in our lifetime.

Amidst of all the tragedies that has befallen our country this year, these two Filipinos have validated that the Filipino spirit is as strong and willful, that it will not be shaken and that its world-class strength is worth to be respected.

Such accomplishments of two fine young men have made it easier for educators, formators and development workers to promote what heroism and its values mean. Often times in this modern day, it seems that we have failed to look for and locate heroes and in that, we often do not understand what heroism means. Our seemingly misrepresentation of heroism through death for the country by firing squad has made heroism an alien concept to us, especially to the current generation. And yet, with Penaflorida and Pacquiao, they give us the perfect cases for discussion and reflection of what it means to be a hero today.

The Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. Foundation whose task is to keep the spirit of heroism alive through the legacy of Ninoy Aquino has created the iamninoy movement in celebration of his 25^th death anniversary last August 2008. It is a celebration of hope and idealism, a freedom movement, a community of heroes – heroes who give out of sheer selflessness and serve the country the best way they can.

In other words, it is our campaign of making heroism cool, hip, and relevant to today’s youth – to you, my dear students.

We were concerned about the next generation of Filipinos who would have seemed to forget who Ninoy Aquino was, nor what he did for our country. We were concerned about how the youth would not be able to appreciate the freedom that we are experiencing right now, the freedom to log on to our facebook and twitter accounts and be able to update our statuses every hour, about how we are currently feeling, what we are doing and what do we really want for al of our friends to see.

Apparently, some 30 years ago, such freedom of being able to say what you want to say was prohibited. And Ninoy Aquino just helped us in reclaiming that freedom.

Thus, numerous efforts have been put into place so that you – our dear youth would not forget what Ninoy did and what he has sacrificed for us. Several modes of partnership such as t-shirts, bags and other merchandise have been designed for you to wear heroism. The modern hero was written about in books and through your language, through websites and blogs in the Internet so that you, yourselves, would be able to describe what heroes are for you.

Today, November 27, 2009, is the birth anniversary of Ninoy Aquino and we are thankful that for one whole day, we are to hold several film showings of the documentary, “The Last Journey of Ninoy”. Produced by Unitel and the Aquino Foundation and directed by Jun Reyes, the film takes us to the last moments of a man who readily died for his country in 1983.

In 1983, I was just barely a year old.

And I’m sure, in 1983, none of you were born yet.

This is our effort to visualize to the visual learners and explain to the current generation of what the concept of sacrifice is, of what we mean by being a true hero, of why being selfless is cooler, hipper and more relevant than being self-absorbed.

For about an hour, let us take you to the life of a man who had big dreams and ambitions for himself. Like most of us, we have created dreams for ourselves. And yet, he was able to let go of such personal ambitions for a greater good.

From an ordinary man, he became an extraordinary hero.

And let his story be our story.

Thank you very much and again, good morning.