Question

After two years of lingering debates and deliberations, the National Heroes Committee recommended the following figures as national heroes: Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini, Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Emilio Aguinaldo, Melchora Aquino, Juan Luna, Gabriela Silang, Sultan Dipatuan Kudarat

1. Neither Pres. Fidel V. Ramos nor any member of the administration acted on the committee’s recommendation.
2. Selection and Proclamation of National Heroes and Laws Honoring Filipino Historical Figures– stated that this was probably because this might trigger a flood of request for proclamations and the proclamations can trigger bitter debates involving historical controversies about the heroes.
3. There is no law, executive order or proclamation has been officially enacted or issued proclaiming Rizal or any other Filipino historical figures as a national hero. Thus, there were laws enacted and proclamations issued honoring some names because of their substantial roles in the process of nation-building and contributions to history.
4. Even Rizal was not officially proclaimed as a national hero; nonetheless, he was given an implicit recognition as his day of execution, December 30 has been made a national holiday.
5. Aside from him, Andres Bonifacio’s day of birth, November 30 has also been declared a national holiday, too.
6. In spite of the absence of any official proclamation, these historical figures remain admired and revered for their role in the Philippine history.
7. Historians said that heroes should not be legislated. Their appreciation should be better left to academics.
8. Rizal holds the status of being a universally-acclaimed Philippine national hero, partially as a tribute to the sustained veneration or acclamation of the people as acknowledgment of his contribution to the major social transformations that took place in the Philippines.