Press Release
August 21, 2009

Gordon: Let us prove worthy of our heroes' sacrifices

Senator Richard J. Gordon (Ind.) today said that the whole nation should re-examine the causes that the martyrs of our country had died for and start thinking of the common good to prove that we are worthy of those sacrifices.

Gordon made the statement as the Filipino nation commemorates today the 26th anniversary of the assassination of former Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., who had said that the Filipino is worth dying for.

"The question remains, are we worthy? In this day and age, in spite of all the martyrdom of many of our heroes, it would appear that we have not learned our lessons. Corruption is still upon us; our military die and rebels die in war; there seems to be untrammeled assassinations in our country; motorcycle assassins abound; many mayors, many journalists, many politicians have been killed; apparently, we all know how to talk about the problem but we can't seem to fix it," he said.

Gordon, whose own father-former Olongapo mayor James Gordon-was also assassinated, said that the country does not seem to learn from its history. He stressed that there is no closure in many issues that the nation faces because of the lack of justice.

"My own father was assassinated and there was never any closure, neither was their any closure on Sen. Ninoy Aquino's assassination. Up to now, we can only suspect who actually had him assassinated. The essential matters, the sense of it all-justice-we have not been able to secure," he said.

The senator explained that there should be an attitude change in every Filipino, stressing that a person should always think, speak and act for the common good.

"We need to have an attitude change in this country once and for all. That attitude has to come out from the fact that we have to learn our history, the fight upon which all our martyrs, including Sen. Aquino, had died for," Gordon said.

"We have to start thinking of the common good. We have to think of the national interest. Even if we stumble and fall, we should rise together as a nation and learn from our mistakes. Maybe then can we prove ourselves worthy of all these sacrifices," he added.

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