The champions of the Philippine Revolution against colonization rose up in arms not just to fight for freedom and independence but also for lands, decent jobs, livelihood, right to education, and, essentially, the right to live humanely.

It was an uprising for rights, a cry for dignity.

Today, even as we proudly remember our heroes and their valiant deeds, we are still hounded by issues and atrocities that undermine human rights and attack the very fiber of our beings as individuals, as communities, and as a nation.

Our national heroes of the past, like Gat Andres de Castro Bonifacio, have raged and organized against the trampling (what we now call as impunity) of human dignity during the Spanish and American colonial periods. We take continuous inspiration and courage from the women and men who fought for individual and national freedoms and justice and broke through the impunity of their times. Human rights defenders of today cannot but be enthused by their examples of unselfish and determined struggles to uplift our common humanity and dignity. Human rights defenders must be unwavering in their goal to break impunity.