Heroes

(Part of an ongoing account started on March 13, 2020 of how the spread of COVID-19 in our country and our government’s response has affected our lives.)

Tomorrow is Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor).

It’s a public holiday in the country, held to remember the Fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942, and the bravery of Filipino and American soldiers during the campaign against invading Japanese forces during World War II.

Associated Press file photo

I wonder if the young ones even know its significance. I have to admit that I always associate it with the Death March, aptly named because thousands of Filipino and American prisoners of war died when they were forced by their Japanese captors to walk from Bataan to San Fernando, Pampanga, where they were brought to Tarlac by train.

They walked for about a hundred kilometers, a difficult thing to do if you’re fit, basically suicidal when you’re hungry, thirsty, tortured and exhausted. Many died, many escaped and many more survived.

I can’t help but draw parallels to how things are today. The whole of Luzon is under lockdown; practically the rest of the country is under some version of quarantine in an effort to slow down transmission of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

We are all prisoners of this disease that has come to our shores, and many of those who have been infected are forced to march in time to its beat. 

Like those POWs, some die, some “escape” when they recover and the rest march on as persons under investigation or monitoring because they had contact with the infected even if they don’t show symptoms of infection.

As for the rest of us, we can avoid the "march" if we just stay home. 

I am afraid, though, that more are stumbling into the march because they are bored, they can't suffer the heat, there is this ingredient or food that they 'absolutely must have' and a host of other reasons that reveal this inability to believe that they are NOT invincible and immune to the virus.

PNA photo

Then there are the brave: those who get infected because they attend to and care for those who are sick with COVID-19, those who man the checkpoints and keep the peace, those who deliver basic goods and services, those who pack, distribute cash aid and relief packs, those who serve us at food stores and supermarkets, those who work so we can have food, water and communications, etc.

They go out into the streets because they HAVE to. Sadly, many of them have joined the march and died along the way.

These are now our new heroes – most of them unnamed, unmoneyed and unnoticed before now.  Their acts of bravery might not be what Araw ng Kagitingan is originally about, but April 9 is a day of valor ; thus, it is the right time to remember, celebrate and pray for these heroes in our midst.

I am sure that those soldiers who tried so hard to stay in the fight but couldn’t, won’t mind sharing the day with those who are now fighting an unseen, pervasive, unknown and powerful enemy in a battle whose end, as yet, we cannot see.

DoH update: As of 4 p.m. of April 8, 2020, the Philippines has reported 3,870 confirmed corona virus cases, including 96 recoveries and 182 deaths.