National Heroes Day is once again upon us.

This is the one day in the year where we get to celebrate all
of the country’s heroes (and there have been many of them throughout the years). It has seen many
changes in the country’s history, but the thought behind it remains the same: to honor ALL of our
heroes, and not just the select few.

Yes, there are days dedicated to Jose Rizal (December 30), Andres Bonifacio (November 30), and
Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., (August 21), but what about the likes of Lapu-Lapu, the brothers Juan and
Antonio Luna, the Gomburza, or even those who died during World War II?

National Heroes Day was first celebrated during the American Colonial Period. The first instance of it
being signed into law was on October 28, 1931, when Philippine Legislature signed Act No. 3827, making
every last Sunday of August as National Heroes Day.

This, however, clashed with Act No. 2946, enacted on February 16, 1921. Act No. 2946 commemorated
not only Bonifacio’s date of birth on November 30 but also anonymous heroes who have served the
country. Because of this, National Heroes Day and Bonifacio Day were celebrated during November 30,
albeit in separate occasions.

November 30, 1941 would be remembered as the last time it was celebrated before World War II. It was
during this day that then-president Manuel L. Quezon told the cadets assembled at the University of the
Philippines that a war was brewing, and that it would be against the Japanese.

Back then, I was very angry at the Spaniards. As a college student, during our class we discuss about Jose
Rizal’s works and life. Every time our professor explains the greatness of our national hero I couldn’t
help but be amazed. These series of lectures give me a fascinating insight on our national hero’s life and
works. As we go deeper in our studies about his life and works, we’ve become more interested to know
about his life and its relevance to the Philippine democracy As a part of studying Rizal’s life, our class
decided to go to historical places where Rizal had been through. Some of my group mates including me
decided to go to where our national hero was born. On the 18th day of August we decided to meet at 8
o’clock in the morning at Gateway Cubao. We are all excited to visit the place, and of course we also
think to take this event as a chance for us to bond with each other. Almost one hour of waiting for the
whole group to be completed before we go to the bus station. From Cubao Terminal Station, it took us
three hours to reach Calamba including the time we spent in taking our lunch at Waltermart Mall. We
arrived at 11 o’clock in the afternoon and quickly found the old house of Dr. Rizal. We observe the
surrounding of the place and read some notes that are made to inform the visitors

Language is vital to the process of transforming a political will into a social action. Schäffner
(1997)

contended that “any political action is prepared, accompanied, controlled and influenced by language”
(p.1).

Fairclough went further to say that politics is not just conducted through language, but much of
politics is
language: “politics partly consists in the disputes which occur in language and over language” (1989,
p.23).

Politicians have employed lexical and rhetorical structures to great effect in their speeches. However,
studies

of wider adoption of rhetoric evolved from observations of how it was used in political assemblies to
influence

the views of individuals. In this respect, the art of rhetoric can be viewed as a discipline deals with all
aspects

of persuasive speaking or writing employed as tools of manipulation and control. Rhetorical devices,
therefore,

have been associated with politics and ideology, and their use has significance in the realms of political
context

and persuasion. Discursive information structures can be accorded greater or lesser emphasis by
the

employment of such tools (van Dijk, 1997). Therefore, lexical and rhetorical devices may be used to
emphasise

or de-emphasise knowledge structures in discourse (van Dijk, 2011). This study aims at analysing the
semantic

macrostructures and rhetorical structures of Prabhakaran’s speech, and their role to persuade and
influence the

Tamil people to have their sovereignty. Thus, the researchers address three research questions: (a)
What are the

semantic macrostructures represented by themes/topics of this speech? (b) What are the local
meanings

represented by lexical and rhetorical structures? (c) How is ideology revealed in this speech

the holiday honors and remembers all Philippine national heroes. Here are a few facts related to
this occasion.

Despite its lofty title, today’s holiday does not only commemorate prominent figures in Philippine
history, but also honors unknown Filipinos, past and present, who have given much to the cause
of freedom, justice, and Philippine independence and nationhood.
There were also efforts to nominate just one figure to be the country’s sole national hero, with
popular candidates being Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio. But this has not been acted upon. –
Rappler.com

he who does not knw how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination

He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his
destination.” One of the most enduring quotes from Rizal, this is a timely reminder for
everyone to remember both their roots and the people who helped them get to where they are.