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The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a sobering assessment last week on the development of a vaccine against COVID-19. WHO officials said that “it did not expect widespread immunization against the novel coronavirus until mid-2021”. The statement came after a series of positive news from various countries racing to develop a vaccine that will neutralize the coronavirus which has so far infected more than 27 million people around the world and killed almost 900,000.

The latest unemployment data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority last week is revealing to policy-makers. The unemployment rate significantly dropped to 10 percent in July from a record-high of 17.7 percent in April.

Ironically, the piece of legislation providing for the celebration of National Heroes Day — Republic Act No. 3827, passed by the Philippine Legislature on October 28, 1931 — did not specify any particular hero. And so while we have days of commemoration for Dr. Jose Rizal and Gat Andres Bonifacio, National Heroes Day was really designated to celebrate the courage of nameless and faceless Filipinos who sacrifice their own welfare for others and for the nation.