The Filipino is worth sacrificing for

"I am only one but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, let me not refuse to do the something I can do." (Quoted from Edward Hale.)

I chanced upon this quotation in Ninoy’s 1973 diary written in his cell in Fort Bonifacio. Ninoy wrote:

"But what is this something I can do? I am not only one. I am a helpless one. Where lies the mission? I guess by suffering here, we remind Marcos of his duty; otherwise, he will be vindicated. If Pepe Diokno and I give up now and join the hordes singing praises to the dictator, he might believe that he is already God — and woe to our people. Our role is to remind him of the precariousness and the vulnerability of his position. This is the thing we can do. Remain the symbol of a little opposition that can explode. Rizal was only one but his death triggered the revolution."

On this the 21st anniversary of Ninoy’s martyrdom, we remember that Ninoy said: "The Filipino is worth dying for." Very few are called upon to offer their lives for our country. But I believe we can all commit ourselves to making sacrifices for the good of our people and say with conviction that: "The Filipino is worth sacrificing for." I hope that many of us, Filipinos, will pledge to share our time, talent and treasure to help improve the lives of our fellow Filipinos. As we make sacrifices for others, let us also pray that God, Our Father will bless us with that very important and meaningful day in our lives when we can proudly say: "Finally, we Filipinos are one. "