Heroes are not important to this country!

I'm sure you and I were among the hundreds of thousands of people especially students and worried parents who were confused whether yesterday was a holiday or not. Well, it turned out that yesterday was a holiday because Aug.29th was apparently declared as "National Heroes Day". Come now, the last time I remember that this country celebrated National Heroes Day was sometime in mid April when it was dubbed "Araw ng Kagitingan". I think that was the Fall of Bataan. But before that, National Heroes Day fell together with Andres Bonifacio's Day on Nov.30th.

There is no doubt that we Filipinos do not revere our fallen heroes as much as they do in other countries, most especially the United States. Our heroes may be given a hero's burial or even a State Funeral, but when they're dead and buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, they're totally forgotten or worse, their graves would even disappear.

A case in point is the story we wrote last March 14th of this year about the grave of Col. James Cushing (Ret) who for all intents and purposes is a hero to us Cebuanos. Col. Cushing was the leader of all the Cebuano guerillas in the island of Cebu when the Japanese military occupied our island. He brought hope to our anguished parents that through him, Gen. Douglas MacArthur would fulfill his promise to return. But because he was an American, he was never declared as a hero nor even given any recognition for his valiant efforts in keeping the Japanese soldiers in Cebu busy before the Americans came back.

Let me point out that we've written many articles on the exploits of Col. Cushing, but to date, we have not declared him as a genuine Cebuano hero nor is there even a street named after him. Yet after the war was over, this American continued to live in Cebu and died a pauper on board a steamer off Palawan. His last dying wish was to be buried together with his fallen Filipino compatriots, not in the American Cemetery. Col. Cushing got his wish and was buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

This year, a good friend of mine, Mr. Louis Jurika came to the Philippines to search for his grave and he reported to me that the Graves Registrar at the Libingan lost Cushing's grave. Jurika went to the Libingan and learned that Col. James Cushing's grave was supposed to be in section I Row 6 Plot M and his grave registration number is CR-NR no.264.

Well, Mr. Jurika sent me this letter and we quote him, "Imagine our shock when the row of crosses ended at the letter "J". We could not believe it. That was it, there were no more crosses - there was no "K", no "L", and most importantly no "M". We went back and counted all over again, to no avail. We cross-checked the section and row enough times that there was no way we were in the wrong place." So clearly, Col. Cushing's grave and bones were missing.

That's not all. Mr. Jurika surveyed most of the Libingan and thought that the only special attention that would be given by the military would be the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier… so he huffed over there and here's his note to me about this… "and the 'eternal flame' at the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier monument was not burning. According to one old gardener tending the cemetery, it had been extinguished for more years than he had been working there and he could not recall it ever being relit. Another 'eternal flame' that also looked as if it had not been lit for decades was memorable for the words below it that read, 'The Flame That Will Never Die'".

Mr. Jurika added this note: "The cemetery is in forlorn shape, and as we drove out the gate past the golf course enjoyed by Philippine military officers, we couldn't help but notice how well the golf course is watered and maintained compared to the nearby cemetery. Watching the golfers enjoying their smokes and drinks, whacking golf balls off the practice tees, we were struck by the seemingly inverted priorities and wondered what our heroes must be thinking as they sleep nearby."

We wrote this last March that Mr. Jurika showed me photographs of his visit to the Libingan, including the one, which shows the phrase, "The Flame That Will Never Die!" The photo showed only a burnt hole with no flame in it. What a country! There's no money for the eternal flame for our fallen heroes, but certainly, there's lots of money for the maintenance of the Ft. Bonifacio golf course. But worse of all, they've lost the grave of a man that I consider our hero, Col. Jim Cushing! What a country! We can't even have a permanent date to honor our war dead! No wonder there are no more patriots in this land as our people would rather leave for better and greener pastures abroad than die for this politically forsaken country!

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila's columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com