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The value of freedom is immeasurable. None understand this more than the proud members of the Filipino race, who through countless generations have fought for the right to be, recognized as free men. The blood of their heroes that light the path of history stand testament to the continuing struggle of the Filipino people for independence.

The fight for freedom that the Filipinos have been waging has not been an easy one. The chief of Mactan, Lapu-lapu, fought against the new weapons of the Spaniard Magellan to insure his peoples’ freedom. His battle of steel bolos against guns and cannons was but the first of many threats his proud people would have to face.

Eventually, the western world would catch up to the Philippine Islands. The Spanish would eventually succeed in their quest to colonize the islands. However, the Filipino spirit could not be dampened or chained into submission. Those times gave rise to heroes such as Jose Rizal, who through his literary works stirred a sense of nationalism in his countrymen, and Andres Bonifacio, who brought together the first organized revolutionary movement.

The course of history identifies many heroes in the Filipino fight for freedom. In the ensuing years of the American occupation, several men rose up to fight for freedom. Men such as Emilio Aguinaldo, Antonio Luna, Gregorio del Pilar and Miguel Malvar rose up against their colonizers and demanded their independence. Unfortunately, their common dream was not to be achieved in their lifetimes.

Eventually, the Philippine Islands were freed from American rule. However, the invasion of the Japanese during the Second World War called forth a new fight for freedom. It took the lives of countless brave men and women before tyranny could be overcome.

From the ashes of the Second World War, a new nation was built. The Philippine Republic prospered, pushed forward by the desire for progress. However, a new threat to freedom emerged, the threat of dictatorship.

The Marcos Era, and the ensuing years of Martial Law, again threatened to demolish the freedom for which our country's heroes had so eagerly fought past. This new threat was countered by people such as Ninoy Aquino and many political activists who opposed the obvious trampling of civil rights that the Marcos regime perpetrated on the Filipino people.

The ensuing revolution that deposed Ferdinand Marcos stands as the greatest testament to the Filipino desire for freedom. It shows the peoples’ hunger for independence, a hunger that cannot and would not be threatened, even by death.

The fight for freedom continues, from the time of Lapu-lapu to the present. Today the Filipino struggles with poverty and various domestic problems that, like the foreign invaders of the past, limit the freedom of the citizenry. However, like their forefathers before them, Filipinos will prevail because of their constant tenacity. The hunger for freedom is insatiable, but the fight must be continued.