Remember your childhood when you just want to be one of the Power Ranger characters but you couldn’t afford so you just point your fingers on the television and say ‘hey! That’s me.’ Yes! The ‘90s superheroes are back but this time no more butt-kicking, no colorful wearing teens, and most especially no tossing of power coins because these heroes are normal people like us.

From wearing just simply surgical masks, this pandemic has turned them completely like ‘power rangers’ who wore almost the same gear as it is completely covered. These five Pinay workers are not having exactly colorful life as the power rangers because they only experience the worst side in the frontline. Despite the real danger, these rangers have put their safety to provide life-saving protection and support to most people in need. They never buckled up on their seats because they chose to stand and help.

At this time of the year, it is evident that women have played an outsized role in the healthcare sector responding to the coronavirus pandemic. The unique expertise of women leveraged that put away the gender sensitivity issue in the frontline. So, we are picking the characters of power rangers to describe our modern-day Pinay heroes, who are as powerful as the boys in the story, who have been recognized abroad and in the Philippines for paving their way in the frontline.

Today, in celebration of International Women’s Day, we would honor the success of these Pinay frontliners who worked unceasingly and have brought pride to everyone not only in the Philippines but also in the world.

1. Charito Romano (Pinay nurse)
In the power ranger, the red color symbolizes a team-lead-color. And the mask behind ‘red ninja ranger’ is none other than Staff Nurse Charito Romano who has been recognized and awarded the top ‘British Empire Medal’ (BEM) during Queen Elizabeth’s New Year’s Honor for her “outstanding” work in the frontline at Arbrook House Care Home in the UK.

Romano as the one who manages with a bunch of co-workers had kept the care home free from coronavirus despite the rampant case in the country is such a remarkable deed she had.

The red ranger is described as strong-dedicated to her work magnifies the working capability of Romano because she has been working for long hours with no day-offs for weeks. Romano’s performance has exemplified that Filipino virtue at work doesn’t define any risk conditions. This red ranger woman puts a significant contribution to the Philippines and in the U.K.

2. Catharine Aquino-Fournier (Leader of Swiss tech)
The ‘blue ranger’ is described as someone who has a skillful ability to create things that help the whole team in power rangers. And with no doubt, the mind behind the Swiss tech that can detect the coronavirus is from the Filipina UPLB alumna, Catharine Aquino-Fournier. She is the state-of-the-art behind the innovation of the HiDRA-seq, a similar method with the real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) in Switzerland.

Blue ranger in some series is described as an experimental person who loves to deliver some ideas incorporated with research and analysis. Thus, this characteristic can be shown with Fournier as a woman who knows to associate her thoughts with focus and conscientiousness. Her innovation brought us a special place that a woman has always had the power to top in cases amidst the baring situation.

3. Zenei Cortez (Co-president of National Nurses United)
In power ranger, pink color is realistically the ultimate symbol for feminism. We can easily associate that when we say ‘pink’ it’s the actual color for something nice and girly. Well, that doesn’t show the image of feminism that deals much with the girly-stuff because the ‘new pink’ power ranger is the new inferior out of any colors.

The story of Zenei Cortez is the best story that would describe what a pink ranger is and what it has. Kindness and courage are the two things Cortez has but everything that associates with that characteristic doesn’t always seem to follow the outcome. Cortez during her stay in the States has never skipped a leap of discrimination from foreign people and that’s when she stood up and spoke among other Filipino oversea nurses who have been discriminated abroad too. She created a union and lifted activism in the U.S. to help her endeavor.

Now, her bravery has become a testament that there is a gazillion of power lies in a pink ranger and that a Filipina like Cortez can be bold enough to be recognized this far among her fellow Filipinos. To date, she is one of the most trusted women nurses in the industry because she has the potential and she has the power of an Asian root.

4. Florence Gumilab (Policewoman and a mother)
Florence Gumilab has the perfect story describing the power of a ‘yellow ranger.’ In other series yellow ranger is played by men but it is also taken by women. But, whatever the role switching there is, it always has met and persuaded the people about the character of a yellow ranger.

The story of Gumilab has inspired a lot of women frontliner, especially those who are lactating moms who worked hard in times of the pandemic. Gumilab is a checkpoint frontliner whose husband is a cop too. This police officer has divided her time so well she can afford to be on her duty and breastfeeding her two-year-old baby. It may be a thousand times more challenging to be a lactating police officer but she never loses her grip and draws her strength through prayers.

Gumilab is such a hero in the sense that the warmth and dedication she has given to her job and a child are timeless and abound motivation for others.

5. Estrella Catalan (Pinay nurse)
Estrella Catalan is a Pinay nurse who’s been working in the England hospital for almost two decades. Amid her service in the frontline, Catalan had caught the contagious coronavirus disease and died after.

Catalan wanting to get back on the frontline, even whilst fighting for her life is such an act that no one can replace. The color black in power ranger is best suited for Catalan not because of her gloomy life but with a very opposite description as what you might be thinking. The color black in power rangers is a symbol of strength and power. Hence, Catalan is a full-spirited woman with the kindest heart no one could ever do.

To the women of this generation, many faces can be the most inspirational women during the coronavirus pandemic. We all have our preferences but with all the depths of this information we bow and honor each one of the people in the frontline no matter what their works are, they’re all deserved to be recognized. No dazzling color of power rangers could ever describe how their roles have changed so many lives.