NHI not keen on proposed Cory Aquino Day

The National Historical Institute (NHI) is not keen on declaring a Cory Aquino Day, saying there are other ways to memorialize the late former President than giving Filipinos another holiday. NHI chairman Ambeth Ocampo on Monday said that while they support the resolution filed by Senator Manuel Roxas II seeking to declare a holiday in honor of Mrs. Aquino, they believe that further study is still needed on the matter. "A holiday is supposed to make people remember. That is the intent, I think, of the resolution. But in actual practice we see people go to the malls," Ocampo told the Senate committee on education in a hearing. Mrs. Aquino, the country’s first woman president, died last August 1 at the Makati Medical Center after several months of battling colon cancer. She had been instrumental in toppling the Marcos regime in February 1986 through the historic EDSA People Power Revolution. On August 3, Roxas filed Joint Resolution 28 seeking to declare Mrs. Aquino's birthday, January 25, as Cory Aquino Day. Ocampo said that following NHI rules, 10 years are needed before they could recommend that a holiday be declared to honor a person. He added that even in canonization, or the act by which the Christian Church declares a deceased person to be a saint, the authorities wait for five years before starting the process. "Perhaps we should review the existing holidays because there is a lot, and see how we can, if we put in a Cory holiday, give it the importance that it deserves," Ocampo, a noted historian, said. He suggested that instead of declaring a holiday, Congress should just name new streets, schools or hospitals after Mrs. Aquino to honor her. Ocampo also said that the NHI is happy that Roxas’ resolution stopped short of declaring Mrs. Aquino a national hero like what had been done at the House of Representatives, which approved a resolution calling for such. “No Congress has actually been brash enough to declare a national hero. As a matter of fact, even Jose Rizal is not a declared national hero. We cannot legislate heroes. Heroes are made by acclamation," he said. - GMANews.TV