Today, August 30, marks the 160th birth anniversary of the Philippines' other National Hero, Andres Bonifacio. Last Monday, August 28, our motherland celebrated National Heroes Day as a national holiday, an omnibus celebration that covers all the country's heroes, regardless of generation. National Heroes Day began as a commemoration of the Cry of Pugad Lawin (aka Cry of Balintawak), when Bonifacio as the leader of the Katipunan (KKK), tore his cedula and declared the beginning of the Philippine war of independence against Spain. That happened on August 23, 1896.

So many historical transitions have taken place since then, of course, and so many heroes and heroines have passed through. Even the term itself - heroism- has undergone multiple definitions, many of them self-serving or partisan, thus often undeserved or untrue.

What makes a hero then, in this day and age? Perhaps instead of bestowing the title of hero to a person, which would beget intense scrutiny likely to unearth non-heroic elements, it would be better to use a description -- "heroic" to label a life commitment for a cause beyond one's self-interest. No more heroes, just heroic deeds.

Today would have marked the 72nd birthday of a woman who defied convention and chose to lead an altruistic life. Two days from now (September 1) is her first death anniversary. Nelia Sancho was more than just a beauty queen/activist as she was popularly labelled. Manila based artist/illustrator Lynett Advincula-Villariba tells us more about her sorority sister and lifelong friend.

Since September 1 is Labor Day in the US and September 8 is the 58th anniversary of the beginning of the Grape Strike in California, we pay homage to the Filipino farm workers who, in addition to working the fields, organized labor unions to fight for their rights. Read "From Spain to Delano: The Radical Roots of Farm Workers Unions" by writer/photographer David Bacon.