National Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro leads the wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers during the celebration of National Heroes Day at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. (Photo by LINUS GUARDIAN ESCANDOR)

If we are to aspire for a genuine change, Senator Richard "Dick" Gordon said Filipinos must work diligently as our nation's heroes did during their time.

Gordon, one of the presidential aspirants in May 2010 polls, made the statement to coincide with the nation's celebration of the National Heroes day Monday.

He said that rather than just performing ceremonies to commemorate the event, what is more important is to instill in every Filipino’s character the values and principles that have enabled the nation’s heroes to make a difference.

“We must look at our history and learn from our heroes because they are the ones who had the confidence to break the walls in their minds. We haveto recognize the contributions of our martyrs and see why they chose to defend the national interest. We must be able to look at our past with pride so that we can be able to conquer the future with a lot of confidence, hope and with conviction,” he said.

“Our heroes may have lived in different periods of time in our history but they all fought against a system that curtails democracy, stood up against people who have no sense of the common good, and opened the minds of Filipinos to think of the national interest above their personal interests,” he said.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. called on Filipinos to meet the challenge of rewarding the sacrifices made by our heroes in a just and fitting manner.

At Monday’s commemoration of National Heroes Day at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig, Teodoro said, “There is still a long, long way to go for this country to reward our heroes’ sacrifices in a just and fitting manner and that is our challenge. How we do that challenge is up to us. However, the future of this country depends on how we do it.”

“We have seen several examples in my tour of duty as Secretary of National Defense. Even most recently, we have 23 new additions to that heroic list in the island of Basilan, who died not merely because they have terrorism to fight but because they wanted to protect innocent lives and flung themselves at the forefront of the battle so that others could live,” Teodoro said.

Also at the Libingan ng mga Bayani were officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines led by AFP chief of staff, General Victor Ibrado, and representatives from the National Historical Institute.