A NEGROS Occidental-based labor group is marking the observance of the International Labor Day tomorrow, May 1, by honoring the "frontline heroes" especially those who gave their lives during this coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
The General Alliance of Workers Associations (Gawa) said it duly recognizes the courage and fortitude of the frontline health workers in fighting against the dreaded virus.
The group honors the modern day heroes, referring to the frontline health workers, doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners, as well as the police and military personnel and all those who, in one way or the other, had made sacrifices in the struggle against the pandemic.
"They offered their services and even their lives without counting the cost so that others may live. They symbolized human love and altruism," it said, adding that "some of them died answering a noble cause above and beyond their call of duty as frontline health workers."
Wennie Sancho, secretary general of Gawa, said these "heroes and martyrs" should never be forgotten.
Instead, he said, remember them with a deeper and richer meaning -- that a health crisis can be overcome by human love and compassion and above all "by our solidarity against Covid-19 as workers from various sectors."
"We salute them as we remember them not with sadness but with a firm resolve to emulate the highest form of human sacrifice they had rendered motivated by a sense of responsibility to prioritize the needs and welfare of others rather than their own," Sancho added.
For Gawa, words are not enough to elucidate the hazards of their profession that they deserved the right to be called as modern day heroes.
It underscored that despite the discrimination, the physical and emotional stress they had experienced, and their vulnerability to the contamination of the virus, they had remained true and faithful to their calling as frontline health workers.
"The nation is measured by the quality of men and women it honors," the labor group stressed.
Honoring the frontline workers in commemoration of the labor day, Sancho said "we can stand with pride and walk with heads unbowed knowing fully-well that they deserved this accolade."
He said there is nothing we can do to add to their heroism. But there is so much we can do to imitate and value what they have done, along with our deepest conviction that saving human lives is worth dying for.
"Their acts of heroism shall never be forgotten, it shall be told and retold to the next generation of workers. Workers of the world unite," Sancho said, adding that "let us stand in solidarity to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic."