By Edrian Karl B. Bazarte, a political science major at the University of Cebu-Main Campus
Every April 9, we stop to remember. We honor the soldiers who endured the Death March in Bataan, who held on when everything told them to give up. While another Araw ng Kagitingan has recently passed, valor was never meant to be something we only commemorate once a year or read about in history books. It was meant to be lived every day.
Kagitingan is more than bravery in battle. It is the courage to do what is right even when it is hard — even when it costs you something. The soldiers at Bataan did not fight because it was easy; they fought because they believed their sacrifice mattered for the future we now inhabit.
Today, the fight looks different, but it is no less urgent. It is found in the market vendor who reports overpricing. It is the student who asks the uncomfortable question in class. It is the ordinary citizen who files a complaint and follows up until justice is served. These are not small acts. In a world where silence is often the easier choice, speaking up remains an act of real courage.
We Cebuanos are a proud people. We are hardworking, faithful and we look out for each other. But sometimes, we still stay quiet when we should speak. We shrug and say “ganyan talaga” — that is just the way things are. But that is not our strength; that is us giving up.
The heroes of Bataan did not accept “the way things were.” They resisted. And when they could no longer fight with arms, they kept their faith, protected one another and kept going. Those who survived told their story so that we might have one of our own. What we say and do today is the story we are currently writing for the next generation.
Though the wreaths from this past April 9 may have begun to fade, we must still ask ourselves honestly: where are we staying quiet when we should speak? Where are we walking past something wrong because it feels like it is not our problem? Where are we waiting for someone else to act?
The soldiers we honored recently did not fight so that we could be comfortable in our silence. They fought so that we could be free — free to tell the truth and free to demand what is right. We honor them best not with flowers alone, but with the simple, daily refusal to let a wrong go unchallenged. That is kagitingan. And it remains our responsibility, long after the holiday has ended.
