Say the word “frontliners”, and what will immediately comes to mind are images of health workers. And to others, police and military personnel manning checkpoints to ensure order and physical distancing as we continue with our daily lives and grapple the effects of Corona Virus Disease-2019 or COVID-19.

Amid all these, maybe, just maybe, there are still many of us who still fail to see the other faces and forms of frontliners – or our so-called modern heroes.

They are the people we either see or talk to outside, each time we use our quarantine pass to buy our needs.

They are those who call us “Ma’am/Sir” who take our order through their delivery hotline number and prepare our meal immediately after ending the call.

They are our “kuyas” who deliver our ordered food and we meet either at our unit’s lobby or front gate.

They are the security guards or village watchmen who guard our area to ensure our safety as we sleep or watch Netflix while munching our food.

They are also the street sweepers who pick up our trash whenever we irresponsibly throw it outside, or the garbage collectors who collect our unsegregated dumps.

We also see them in the form of janitors who clean our condominium floors, the repair and maintenance team who we contact for our malfunctioning wifi connection system or cable.

And yes, don’t forget the drugstore clerks. supermarket personnel and vendors who brave the virus threat to ensure that we will still be able to buy our needs.

The nameless people who continue to manufacture goods, factory workers who pack and carry loads of them to delivery trucks where drivers await — all set to deliver them in our area.

And for those of us who are severely affected by the impacts of COVID-19, they are also the faceless volunteers who diligently prepare and deliver our food packs right before our doorsteps.

Today, as we mark the “Day of Valor,” we give one snappy salute to all the frontliners  – our today’s heroes.