Weaponized Virtue: Teachers’ <i>Kabayanihan</i> (Heroism) as a Form of Ideological Control and the Normalization of Systemic Neglect in Philippine Education

I examine how the teacher-as-hero trope, rooted in the Filipino concept of bayani, functions as a weaponized virtue. Although kabayanihan (heroism) traditionally signifies collective service to the bayan (community), it now operates as cultural hegemony, reframing systemic neglect as personal virtue and depoliticizing chronic underfunding and exploitative labour. Through neoliberal critique and structural violence frameworks, I trace how heroic narratives normalize invisible labour, intensify emotional demands, and sustain burnout as an institutional outcome rather than an individual failing. Political elites benefit most from this trope; they substitute symbolic praise for material investment and evading accountability for structural failures. I do not dispute teachers' dedication; I call instead for dismantling the ideological structures that convert admiration into exploitation. Genuine educational reform requires fair labour conditions and a shift from the hero trope to structural justice, a lesson relevant across the Global South.