National Heroes Day () is a public holiday in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

celebrated annually on the last Monday of August as a tribute to Filipino

Heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

History

The holiday traces its roots to the

Cry of Pugad Lawin The Cry of Pugad Lawin (, ) was the beginning of the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish Empire. In late August 1896, members of the Katipunan led by Andrés Bonifacio revolted somewhere around Caloocan, which included parts of the pre ...

in August 1896, which marked the beginning of the

Philippine Revolution The Philippine Revolution ( or ; or ) was a war of independence waged by the revolutionary organization Katipunan against the Spanish Empire from 1896 to 1898. It was the culmination of the 333-year History of the Philippines (1565–1898), ...

. The date and the location of the cry have been long disputed. From 1911 to 1962, the cry was thought to have emanated from Balintawak (now in modern-day

Balingasa Balingasa, commonly known as Balintawak and Cloverleaf, is an urban barangay in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is located at Quezon City's western boundary with Caloocan. The barangay's borders are defined by EDSA and barangay U ...

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

) on August 26. In 1963, by recommendation of historian

Teodoro Agoncillo Teodoro Andal Agoncillo (November 9, 1912 – January 14, 1985) was a Filipino historian from the 20th century. He and his contemporary, Renato Constantino, were among the first Filipino historians renowned for promoting a Filipino nationalis ...

, the date was changed to August 23, and the location was changed to Pugad Lawin in

Caloocan Caloocan, officially the City of Caloocan (; ), is a highly urbanized city in Metro Manila, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 1,661,584 people making it the fourth-most populous city in the Philippines. Caloo ...

(now in modern-day Gulod,

Novaliches Novaliches is a place that forms the northern areas of Quezon City, and encompasses the whole area of Caloocan, North Caloocan. Etymology The name Novaliches came from the name of the small village of Novaliches in the town of Jérica in Spai ...

, Quezon City). Due to the disputed date, and with the consensus that the cry occurred in late August, the holiday was then set for the last week of August. The observance of National Heroes Day was already present during the

American colonial period The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonization of the Americas, British colonies on the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–17 ...

. Act No. 3827 by the

Philippine Legislature The Philippine Legislature was the legislature of the Philippines from 1907 to 1935, during the American colonial period, and predecessor of the current Congress of the Philippines. It was bicameral and the legislative branch of the Insular ...

enacted on October 28, 1931, designated every last Sunday of August as National Heroes Day. However,

Bonifacio Day Bonifacio Day is a national holiday in the Philippines, commemorating Andrés Bonifacio, one of the country's national heroes. He was the founder and eventual ''Supremo'' of the Katipunan, a secret society that triggered the Philippine Revolut ...

established by virtue of Act No. 2946 of 1921 was also dedicated to anonymous Filipino heroes. In practice, National Heroes Day celebrations were observed on the same day as Bonifacio Day. This continued during the Japanese occupation during World War II and some years after the United States granted the Philippines independence in 1946. President

Elpidio Quirino Elpidio Rivera Quirino (; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Philippine nationality law, Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 6th President of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953. A lawyer by profession, Quirino entered p ...

issued Administrative Order No. 190 in 1952 which reverted National Heroes Day back to the last Sunday of August. Administrative Code of 1987 of President

Corazon Aquino María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman president in the country, from Presidency of Corazon ...

designated the day as a regular holiday. The date of the holiday was revised again in 2007, this time to the last Monday of August, via Republic Act No. 9492 which was signed into law by President

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal-Arroyo (; born April 5, 1947), often referred to as PGMA or GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician who served as the 14th president of the Philippines from Presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 2001 to 2010 ...

Commemoration

The law itself does not explicitly name any specific individual to be commemorated during National Heroes Day. Commemorations often include key figures in Philippine history who are regarded as

national heroes National Heroes (Serbo-Croatian: ''Народни хероји'', ''Narodni heroji'') or also known as Arrive of the Commander (Serbo-Croatian: ''Долазак команданта'', ''Dolazak komandanta'') or March of the National Heroes, writte ...

though it could also include "lesser-known" and "ordinary" Filipinos. Examples include

Overseas Filipino Worker Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) is a term often used to refer to Filipino migrant workers, people with Filipino citizenship who reside in another country for a limited period of employment. The number of these workers was roughly 1.77 million ...

s and frontline workers during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

References

{{Symbols of the Philippines Public holidays in the Philippines August observances

Orders, decorations, and medals of the Philippines