Modern Day Heroes: Seven Inspiring Pinoys!

These days when most of the news on the TV features disturbing images of how humanity and the world is deteriorating, I sometimes wonder if there are heroes out there that can save us all from unfortunate happenings. Probably the Pinoy hero Captain Barbell together with the Liga Ng Kalayaan could show up and with their might could save our fellow Pinoys trapped in a flash flood somewhere, or probably could just show up in a middle of a robbery and kick the bad guys' butts at one fell swoop just like in the movies.  But of course these will never happen as Captain Barbell is just a product of Mars Ravelo's imagination. Now what we needed are real life heroes that can inspire us even on the simplest things that they do, people who can devote their life in something to uplift the life of their fellowmen. But where can we find such people? 

"A hero is a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired 
for his brave deeds and noble qualities;
and is a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or 
has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal."

The good thing is Yahoo! Philippines came up with a shortlist of Seven Inspiring Pinoys, although there may be more inspiring Pinoys out there who's not on this list, this will be a good start to look for your kind of Inspiring Pinoy Heroes:

1. Alexis Belonio. This engineer figured out an out-of-the-box way to make use of rice husks. He created a cooking stove designed to help poor people have access to hot meals.

Belonio invented a environment-friendly rice-husk stove which has a fan in its base. It provides air used in the conversion of rice hulls into gas—helping poor families cook without needing expensive fuel.Belonio could have gotten a patent for his invention and gain millions from it; yet he left it patent-free so the technology would be free for everyone to use. His efforts have already been recognized abroad but shouldn't we appreciate him first?

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2. Jean Enriquez. If you want to see female power at work, you'd have to meet this woman.

Despite the danger of drawing the ire of huge human trafficking syndicates, Enriquez continues to fight for the welfare of Pinays. Her steadfast efforts to empower Filipino women is admirable.She heads the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific, which vigorously fights sex tourism, the mail-order bride trade, pornography, and sexual exploitation.Enriquez also holds education camps among young women to ensure that they are not vulnerable to abuse. She also oversees the healing process of survivors and makes sure they get a second shot at having a decent life.

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3. Jay Jaboneta. All it took him was one Facebook status message to change the lives of dozens of children in a far-flung village in Zamboanga.

When Jaboneta learned that 200 children in Layag-layag village had to swim to get to school everyday (painstakingly making sure that their books, if there was any, wouldn't get wet), he knew had to do something.Through a Facebook status message, Jaboneta was able to raise funds—as much as P70,000—on the first week of his call for donations.A Facebook group "Zamboanga Funds for Little Kids" was later established, expanding his advocacy's reach.Now, the kids of Layag-layag go to school in their bright new yellow boats, each aptly dubbed as "New Hope."

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4. Tomas Leonor. For Leonor, initiating change literally begins with a single step.

To raise funds for cancer-stricken children at the Philippine Children's Medical Center, Leonor organized 'StepJuan' and volunteered to travel sans any motored transportation.Leonor's belief that cancer must not kill the hopes and dreams of children motivated him to walk hundreds of kilometers.His walking expedition started on April 4, 11 at Allen, Samar.  To date, StepJuan's Leonor has walked a total of 1,241.5 kilometers and taken 2,887,208 steps in seven islands, ten provinces, 86 municipalities, and 20 cities.

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5. Heidi Mendoza. She made headlines and risked her life to expose supposed corruption in the military, allegedly led by ex-Armed Forces of the Philippines comptroller Carlos Garcia.

Mendoza braved Senate hearings and bared details of suspicious military transactions, strengthening the multimillion plunder case against the former general.In all likelihood, she could've chosen a simple, quiet life but she decided to take the road less traveled for the sake of the country.She has recently been appointed by President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino as commissioner of the Commission on Audit and we have high hopes that this would pave the way to clean and honest governance.

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6. Anna Oposa. A lot of people claim to care for the environment but how many actually go out of their way and really work beyond lip service?

Oposa, director of the Law of Nature Foundation, has proven her love for Mother Earth by vigorously working on protecting marine life.She also initiated "Save the Philippine Seas," spurred by recent reports of massive coral reef destruction in several parts of the country. Her initiatives made quite a huge social network ripple and united Filipinos through a national blog day to save the Philippine seas.She is also lobbying to strengthen laws for environment protection, a long-term goal that we hope would live on far beyond our grandchildren's life spans.

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7. Tzarina Saniel.In the age of e-books, tablet apps, and the internet, one would easily prefer going online instead of going to the library. But for Saniel, nothing beats a real book—the feel of the old manuscript, the smell of the paper and the idea that it has cultivated the minds of many.

Bibliophile Saniel has collected and preserved old Filipino books, even original manuscripts from Jose Rizal.Because of her inspiring advocacy, she is definitely noteworthy for keeping Pinoy literature alive.So there goes the list of Seven Inspiring Pinoys by Yahoo! Philippines.