Can you consider Emilio Aguinaldo as a hero?

It depends on who’s doing the “considering.”

Most Filipinos (and most outsiders aware of Philippine history) consider him a hero. As a young man he
led a Revolution against Spain that succeeded, was elected first President of the Philippine Republic,
fought against the Americans for another couple of years until he was captured, and then lived another
sixty-odd years. He did run for President of the Commonwealth once (and lost badly), and he
cooperated with the Japanese during WWII more than many people thought he should have, but
basically it was a dignified retirement, worthy of an elder statesmen.

However, other people consider him a traitor for his involvement in the deaths of Andres Bonifacio,
who started the Revolution, and Antonio Luna, a leading general in the Philippine-American War. He
cheated at Tejeros, which got Bonifacio killed and, Bonifacio was the proper First Philippine President,
not Aguinaldo. After getting rid of Bonifacio, he got rid of Luna, and then surrendered to the
Americans.

On balance, however, we must conclude Aguinaldo is still considered a hero, though perhaps a flawed
one.