EDITORIAL - No sacred cows please

We agree with Cebu provincial board member Victor Maambong that there is a need to speed up the process of issuing clearances and other documents currently being provided by such government agencies as the National Bureau of Investigation and National Statistics Office.

To push this notion along, Maambong has introduced a resolution that seeks to enjoin both agencies to put up so-called express lanes to facilitate the speedy issuance of such clearances and documents.

We doubt, however, if a mere provincial board resolution is enough to prod these agencies to do what Maambong has in mind. On the other hand, we do not feel exactly comfortable with the fact that Maambong wants this done solely for the benefit of overseas workers.

To be sure, our overseas workers have contributed immensely to the wellbeing of this country. Last year, they infused something like 10 billion dollars to the flagging economy. Some have taken to calling then real live heroes.

That is where we beg to disagree. While we would be the last to cast aspersions on their worthy contributions to the country, we nevertheless wish that we could be sparing in our tendency to make heroes just out of almost everybody.

We can still remember this tendency rear its ugly head in the aftermath of the death of Haydee Yorac, may God rest her soul, a few years ago. Yorac was a pillar of integrity and dedicated public service.

But that did not make her a hero, contrary to what some people thought, a notion that even sparked debates on whether she should be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. For God's sake, let us not twist the normal concept of heroes and heroism.

Yorac has an exalted place in the memory of this nation. But it is not a place for heroes, for a hero she was not. She was just an ordinary person who did her work well. And this difference is what we Filipinos should start learning.

Overseas workers contribute immensely to the country. But they are not heroes. To say they are is to demean the countless other Filipino workers who work just as hard and pay their taxes just as religiously but who, for however it may seem to others, prefer to remain here.

Indeed heroism and serving the country are farthest from the minds of those who choose to seek employment abroad. The main reason is personal benefit and that is hardly heroic, even if the outcome may seem that way. So, if we speed things up, speed things up for everybody.