This is a brief look at 3 brave Filipinos, separated by hundreds of years but all fought agains foreign powers and reprsented the country in the world arena of brave men. Filipinos had been under Spain for almost 400 years, under America for almost 45 years, under Japan for 3 years, and under its own aristocratic governements for almost 60 years now. We remember these heroes for fighting for Filipino identity and sovereignity over its land and its people. When will we ever achieve the freedom of our spirit that we have longed for? When will we ever think less of ourselves and more of our country? What will be our contribution as a people of the world? May the memories of these 3 brave men light our paths toward a future where Filipinos stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of the world.

1. A Story of Three (3) Brave Men

2. About ten years after Magellan's birth in Portugal, on the Philippine island of Mactan, a fine boy was born and named Kolipulako. Legend has it that he was a skilled horseman by age six and could read and write by age seven. By age eighteen, he was a champion swimmer and diver, and a champion boxer and wrestler. By the time Magellan set sail for the Moluccas,Kolipolako was known as Kaliph Pulaka or Lapulapu.He had become the ruler or king of his people, one of several tribes peacefully sharing the island of Mactan.

3. "He ordered us to withdraw slowly, but the men fled while six or eight of us remained with the captain. And these people shot at no other place but our legs, for the latter were bare. Thus for the great number of lances and stones they threw and discharged at us we could not resist. Our large pieces of artillery that were in the ships could not help us, because they were firing at too long range."

4. "But as a good captain and a knight, he still stood fast with some others, fighting thus for more than an hour. And as he refused to retire further, an Indian threw a bamboo lance in his face, and the captain immediately killed him with his lance, leaving it in his body. Then, trying to lay a hand on his sword, he could draw it out but halfway, because of a wound from a bamboo lance that he had in his arm. Which seeing, all those people threw themselves on him, and one of them with a large javelin thrust it into his left leg, whereby he fell face downward.

5. The Young General It was at the peak of the mountain pass in Northern Luzon that 60 Filipino soldiers carried out a heroic stand against American troops in the morning of December 2, 1899, thus enabling President Emilio Aguinaldo to flee towards the "wilds of Lepanto.“ The awesome story has been told and retold with epic grandeur, how Del Pilar stood with his valiant soldiers on the steep and solitary mountain Pass of Tirad, steadfast to repel the invader, or fight and die like honorable men. American contemporary writers compared Gregorio Del Pilar’s charge to that of Leonidas and his Spartans at Thermopylae, and that of the embattled Afridis at Dargai Ridge. Even now, we are thrilled with the account of their courage. Sadly, however, 52 of them including Del Pilar, then 24, perished in what an American war correspondent dramatically termed as a "battle above the clouds."

6. Breakthrough Story He had wished for it (death) when long before the battle of Tirad, he proposed to meet the pursuing enemy after the disaster at Caloocan. He felt its obsession when at midnight on the bank of Aringay River, he woke up his soldiers and pointedly asked them this question: ‘Brothers, which do you prefer, to die fighting or to flee like cowards?’

7. “ The General [ Aguinaldo ] has given me the pick of all the men that can be spared and ordered me to defend the Pass. I realize what a terrible task has been given me. And yet, I felt that this is the most glorious moment of my life. What I do is done for my beloved country. No sacrifice can be too great.” --- found written on his diary when he was killed.