Leading Filipino Women: Trinidad Tecson

Trinidad Tecson

Mother of Biak Na Bato

(1848 – 1928)

         One of the bravest soldiers who fought in the Philippine Revolution was a woman. Besides fighting as a soldier, she organized groups of women to nurse the sick and the wounded. This brave woman was Trinidad Tecson. Her life was filled with fearless acts of service for her country.


Early Life
         The family of Rafael Tecson, a farmer, and his wife, Monica Perez, was a large one. They had sixteen children. One of these, born on November 18, 1848 in San Miguel de Mayumo, Bulacan was named Trinidad. She turned out to be the prettiest and brightest of the children. The mother tried to add to the family income by keeping a store.
          In the evening the father taught his sons and daughters how to read and write. After learning the alphabet, little Trining was sent to school. But she did not stay long in school. Her parents died leaving her and her brothers and sisters too young to care for themselves. Relatives took care of them until they grew up.


Trining and the Revolution
          In 1895 Trining Tecson joined the Katipunan. Members of the Katipunan were required to sign their names in their own blood. Trining signed hers in her blood.
          Just before the Revolution, Trining got some guns from the prison in San Isidro, Nueva Ecija. She buried the guns under a bamboo tree. However, someone told the Spanish officials what she did. Spanish soldiers were sent to her home to arrest her and to get the guns. But Trining had run away to hide. The guns were never found by the Spanish soldiers.
          By this time the Revolution had begun. Trining joined the soldiers of General Llanera, and they attacked the town of San Miguel. Trining carried food to the soldiers.
          Once on her way to get food, Trining was almost captured by the Spanish soldiers. She pretended to be hit by their shots and threw herself on the ground. Then she crawled on the grass until she reached the tall bushes beside a brook. She hid for a while and escaped when the soldiers went away.


Trining in the Battlefield
          Trining dressed in men’s clothers when she fought in the battlefield. She wore a wide-brimmed hat. She fought like a man. She endured all the hardships on the battlefields. She was badly wounded in the battle if Zaragoza, where she fought under General Soliman. After her wound was a treated, she went back to fight again.
          Some of the battles in which she fought were those that took place in San Rafael, Dagupan, Malabon, Manila, San Isidro, Zaragoza, and San Ildefonso. She also fought under the command of General del Pilar. At one time she and her husband, Julian Alcantara, and two servants defended the entrance to the fort at Biak-Na-Bato. The Spaniards with a strong force tried to enter the fort. Trining and her small group of defenders beat them off.


The “Mother of Biak-na-Bato”
          Then Trining turned to more valuable work for the soldiers. She gave up fighting. Instead, she organized groups of women to nurse wounded and sick soldiers of the Filipino army.
          The sick soldiers called her Ina ng Biak-Na-Bato, or “Mother of Biak-Na-Bato,” because she nursed them back to health. Biak- Na- Bato or Halved Stone in translation is a cave in Bulacan which is a military base camp of the Filipino soldiers during the revolution against Spain in 1897 but became a seat of revolutionary government of the first republic of President Emilio Aguinaldo, the first president of the Philippines.
          Trinidad Tecson may be said to be the first person to start Red Cross work in the Philipines. Her services to the soldiers of the Revolution were appreciated by General Aguinaldo. He said of her: “Trinidad Tecson of San Miguel helped the Revolutionists very much. Her work in caring for the sick during the years 1896-1897 was a great service. It was because of her work that she won the title: “Ina ng Biak-Na-Bato.”
          Trining’s group of nurses extended their work to the Ilocos and souther provinces. After the war, her nursing work was recognized by the American Red Cross. They gave her credit for starting Red Cross work in the Philippines.
         When Trinidad Tecson died on January 28, 1928, she was honored for her Red Cross work. As a recognition of her service during the Revolution .and of her bravery as a soldier, she was buried in the Veterans’ Tomb in the Manila North Cemetery.
         Today, the remains of Trinidad Tecson lie side by side those of other heroes of our country.

Leading Filipino Women: Leona Florentino

Leona Florentino

The Great Ilocana Poetess

(1849 – 1884)

       Leona Florentino was a great Filipino poetess. Her writings were known and praised not only in the Philipines but also in Europe.

Leona’s Parents

       In Vigan, Ilocos, Sur stands a simple statue. This statue was built in honor of the great Ilocano poetess, Leona Florentino.

Leona was born on April 19, 1849 in Vigan, Ilocos Sur. Her father, Don Marcelino Florentino, was the richest man in the Ilocos province in those days. Her mother, Isabel, also came from a wealthy family. Leona and Jose Rizal were distant cousins. Rizal’s grandfather on his mother’s side, Felix Florentino, was a cousin of Leona’s father.

       Leona had many brothers and sisters. They were all brought up in a strict manner by their mother. She punished them by whipping when it was necessary. She did not believe in letting her children grow up doing nothing. She taught them to work and often told them that work was good for children.

Leona’s Education

       Leona was a very bright girl. Her mother taught her to read. Leona wrote her first poem before she was ten.

Leona, however, was not allowed to study in higher schools although her parents were rich. In those days it was not necessary for girls to be highly educated. So Leona did not go to college.

       But Leona studied by herself. She learned to speak English from Father Evaristo Abaya, the parish priest of Vigan. Father Abaya encouraged her to go on writing poems.

Leona’s Poems

This is one of her poems written in her native dialect, Ilocano:

EMILIA

Essem quen yamanco

Diac mayebcas

No addaca laeng a sicacoes

ti salum-at

Naipangena itoy aldao a

ingret gasat

a pannag casangay mo

cas umis-urayco a

nabay-bayag.

        The poem was written for Emilia, one of Leona’s friends, on her birthday. It expressed Leona’s good wishes. In English, it says: “I cannot describe my joy and thankfulness in finding you in good health, especially on this day, your birthday. I have been waiting for it for a long time.”

        Leona Florentino wrote not only poems but also plays. Her works were admired not only in the Philippines but also in Europe.

Some of her poems were shown at an International Exposition in 1887. A big library in Paris contains some of her works. But most of her poems were lost during the Revolution. Only a few of them have been saved.

       This great poetess wrote on many subjects. She wrote about love, good conduct, and religion.

       She wrote about the people around her whom she loved. Leona’s poems and plays described the life of the people in the Ilocos provinces. She praised what was good. She criticized what was bad.

      Among her great poems are To A Young Woman On Her Birthday, Castora Benigna, and Leon XIII.

      According to Eulogio B. Rodriguez, a former Director of the Bureau of Public Libraries, Leona Florentino was the greatest Filipino poetess of her time. She died on October 4, 1884.


Photo Sources:

www.retrato.com.ph

Leading Filipino Women: Teodora Alonzo

Teodora Alonzo

Mother Of Our National Hero, Jose Rizal

(1827-1911)

       Teodora Alonzo was the mother of Jose Rizal, the greatest hero of our country. Rizal owed his early education, his character training, and love for truth and liberty to his talented and industrious mother. Teodora Alonzo was well fitted to be the mother of a hero.


Teodora’s Childhood
     Teodora Alonzo came from a well-to-do and educated family. Her parents were Captain Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo and Brigida de Quintos. Teodora, like the rest of her sisters and brothers, was born in Manila. They grew up in a pleasant, orderly home where industry and kind acts were the rule.
    When Teodora was a little girl, the Alonzo family moved to Calamba, Laguna. Her mother taught her the alphabet and how to read from the cartilla and the caton. Then Teodora entered the Santa Rosa College, a school in Manila for girls. At this school, the girls studied Spanish, religion, and ways of keeping the home.
Teodora was very talented. While still a student, she wrote poems and translated Spanish stories into Tagalog.


Teodora’s Marriage
     Teodora was to make use of her talents in later life. She married Francisco Mercado of Calamba. They had eleven children. One of them was Jose – the future hero. When the children were older, the family’s name was changed to Rizal.
     Dona Teodora devoted her life to the education of her children. She taught them how to read. She taught them their prayers, and good manners. She told them stories which had good lessons.
The most interested listener was her son Jose. One of her stories that Jose never grew tired of hearing was the story of the foolish moth and the bright lamp. The little moth was attracted by the light and flew around the lamp. Its mother told the little moth not to go near the light. The little moth did not listen to its mother. It went close to the light and was burned to death.
     Jose never forgot this story. When he was a grownup man, he wrote; “The story showed me things I had not known before. Moths were no longer insignificant insects. Moths talked, they knew how to advise, just like my mother.”


Mother of a Hero
     Dona Teodora helped her husband manage their farm. She worked hard and saved in order to be able to send her children to school in Manila and in other countries. She soon realized how bright Jose was.
      She taught him how to write poems. To his mother, Jose showed the poems and the stories he wrote. When he was five years old, he wrote a play that pleased the Capitan del Pueblo, or mayor of the town. For his play, little Jose was given a prize of two pesos. He went to school in Binang, Laguna. Later he studied in Ateneo de Manila and the University of Santo Tomas.
      Dona Teodora continued to save money so that Rizal could go to Europe to continue his studies.


Dona Teodora’s Sufferings
      While Rizal was away, Dona Teodora was accused of a crime she did not do. She was sent to prison. While in prison her eyes contracted a disease. She almost became blind. Later on Rizal, who had now become a doctor, cured her eyes. He operated on her eyes and helped her to see again.
       During this time Rizal wrote Noli Me Tangere, his famous book attacking unjust Spanish officials. Because of this book, the officials considered him an enemy of Spain. All his relatives were suspected of being against the Spaniards. His mother was often in danger of being thrown into prison again. So were his sisters and brothers.
       Her friends advised Dona Teodora to go away and hide from the Spaniards. She refused to go away. “I will stay here,” she said bravely. “I will not run away because I have not done anything wrong. I believe in justice.”
       Like his mother, Rizal did not run away when he was accused of being an enemy of the government. He was arrested, but his enemies gave him a false trial. He was sentenced to death, and on December 30, 1896, he was shot on Luneta, in Manila.
      Dona Teodora lived through that awful day, and for many years afterwards. She had the comfort of seeing her son recognized as a great hero. The Philippine government offered her a life pension, but she refused it.She said, “No, I cannot accept the money. I do not want to be paid for what Rizal did for his country.”
     When Dona Teodora died at the age of 85, the government had her remains lay in state for several days at the Marble Hall, the principal government building then. Many people attended her funeral as their last act of respect to the mother of the greatest Filipino hero.

Leading Filipino Women: Melchora Aquino

Melchora Aquino

Mother of the Revolution

(1811-1919)

        Melchora Aquino or Tandang Sora, is known in Philippine history as the “Mother of the Philippine Revolution.” This revolution was the successful fight of the Filipinos to win their freedom from Spain. It started in 1896 and ended in 1898. During the Philippine Revolution Melchora Aquino gave help to many Filipino soldiers.


Tandang Sora
      Melchora Aquino was born on January 7, 1811 to a hardworking couple Juan Aquino and Valentina Hanule and they live in the little barrio of Pasong Tamo in Balintawak, north of Manila. She kept a little store by which she supported herself. She was already 85 years old in 1896, the year when she started on her great work. She was, however, far from weak and helpless. In fact, at this age she was a vigorous, industrious old woman. She tended her store and helped her neighbors. The poor around her often got many things from her store without paying for them. Her neighbors affectionately called her Tandang Sora.
       The year 1896 was a troubled year for the Philippines. The Filipinos could no longer endure that unjust government of Spanish officials and were ready to revolt or overthrow the government. Many Filipinos led by Andres Bonifacio had formed a secret society called the Katipunan, whose purpose was to make plans for the revolt.


Cry of Balintawak
       The Katipuneros, or members of the Katipunan, had their meetings in Pasong Tamo, in a house near the store of Tandang Sora. Then the Katipunan was discovered by the Spanish government officials. The officials sent the Guardia Civil, or government soldiers, to arrest the Katipuneros. However, someone was able to warn the Katipuneros, who were having a meeting in Pasong Tamo.
       The Katipuneros broke up their meeting. But they did not have much time to run away because the Guardia Civil were almost upon them. Some of the Katipuneros ran through the back fence and escaped. The others ran to the store of Tandang Sora.
“Please hide us Tandang Sora,” the Katipuneros cried. “If we get caught, we shall not be able to continue our fight for freedom.”
Tandang Sora at once took the Katipuneros to her bodega. She covered them with rice sacks and told them to hide behind her big jars. The Guardia Civil did not find them.
      Then the famous “Cry of Balintawak” was sounded by Andres Bonifacio. The Filipinos had decided to fight. The Revolution was on! Then Tandang Sora was a busy woman, day and night.


Tandang Sora’s Heroic Acts
      Often after dark, wounded soldiers would knock on her door. She took them in and nursed them until they got well. Sometimes the soldiers were hungry, dirty, and ragged. She fed them and gave them clothes and money. Some of the soldiers were often discouraged. They wanted to stop fighting. Tandang Sora cheered them.
      The Spanish officials soon heard of the brave and kind old woman who was helping the Katipuneros. Government soldiers were sent to arrest her.


Her Exile
      Tandang Sora was caught. She was sentenced to prison and kept at the Bilibid Prison for a while. Then after another trial she was sent to the Marianas Islands. These islands are far away in the Pacific Ocean. She was exiled there with other Filipinos who had fought for their country.
     Meanwhile her countrymen continued their fight. The Americans arrived in the Philippines and got the islands from Spain. The Americans set free all the exiles in the Marianas Islands. Among them was Tandang Sora.


Her Last Years
     Tandang Sora came back poor and homeless. But she was not discouraged. She looked for work and lived many more years. When she died on March 2, 1919 at the ripe age of 108, she ended a useful life to be proud of and worthy of being followed by others.

Leading Filipino Women: Margarita Roxas

Margarita Roxas

Friend of the Poor

(1826 - 1869)

       Maria Margarita Roxas was the daughter of a rich man. She used her father’s wealth to help the poor. She was one of our first philanthropists. Philanthropists are rich persons who give some of their money to hospitals, schools, and orphanages and for other charitable work. They are kind-hearted and unselfish people.


Margarita Learns About Kindness
      A child who has kind and thoughtful parents is lucky. Such a child is surrounded by kindness that can teach him or her how to be good and kind. Margarita Roxas was more than lucky. She had rich parents who were also kind and thoughtful of others.
     Margarita’s father was Don Domingo Roxas, a rich businessman. Her mother was Maria Saturnina Ubaldo. Margarita grew up in San Miguel, Manila, where she was born on July 29, 1826. She saw how her father helped the poor. Many of these poor persons worked for Don Domingo.
     Even when she was a child, Margarita helped her father in his work for the poor. Don Domingo often told her, “I wish we could do more for the poor. I wish we could help improve the way they live.”
     Don Domingo also taught Margarita how to run his business. “If you have plenty of money,” he said, “you can give more help to people around you.”
     Margarita learned her father’s business well. It was good that she did, for the kind ideas of her father did not please the officials of the government. They accused Don Domingo of helping the poor so that these people would become discontented and ask help from others. The officials of the government forced Don Domingo to go to Spain and stay there.
    “Don’t worry, Father,” said the young Margarita as her father left for Spain. “I know how to run your business now. I know, too, how to help the poor.”
     To fit herself for her great work, Margarita first travelled in Europe. She saw how the poor, the old and the orphaned were taken care of in the countries in Europe. She gained much knowledge of how to help poor people.


Helping the Poor
    When she returned to the Philippines, she opened a coal mine in Cebu. She gave work to poor people at the mine. It was one of the first coal mines in the country. But the mine soon closed, because the coal obtained from it was of poor quality.
    Margarita did not become discouraged. She next built a factory which later became the San Miguel Brewery. This factory in Manila still stands today, employing thousands of people.


A Free Ward at the Hospital
     How to help the poor receive free medical care was Margarita’s next project. One of the biggest hospitals in Manila was the San Juan de Dios Hospital. Only well-to-do people could stay in hospitals then. The poor could not, because they had no money to pay the doctor or for the medicine and the cost of staying in the hospital.
     So Margarita Roxas gave the San Juan de Dios Hospital enough money so that one of its wards would be a free ward. In the free ward, sick people were admitted and treated without charge. Many poor people who were sick entered the hospital. Some could not be admitted as there was no more room for them.
     The kindhearted Margarita next thought of setting up a charity bazaar to raise money for the hospital. The bazaar was a fair where goods were sold to rich people. The fair was successful. It raised P29,000 pesos for the hospital. The beds in the free ward were increased and more poor people were admitted to the hospital.


A School for Girls
     Margarita next thought of helping orphans or children without parents, and the old and insane. She contributed money to the Hospicio Real de San Jose, which took care of these people.
But giving money and setting up hospitals would not end the sufferings of poor people. So Margarita decided on another way to help them. She believed that the poor should be given a chance to have an education. There should be schools for them. Margarita planned to build first a school for girls. If girls were educated, they could help make better homes for their parents. In this way the life of the people would be improved.
     She wrote to some Sisters of Charity in Spain. She told them that she was planning to build a school for girls. She asked the Sisters to run the school. She offered to pay their expenses from Spain to Manila.
    The Sisters arrived and set up a school in a beautiful building in Sta. Ana, Manila. The school was named La Concordia College. This school still stands today, a monument to the great heart of a generous lady.
   Margarita Roxas did not live long. Her many activities for the poor made her health break down. When she died at the age of 43 on November 1, 1869, the whole country mourned. A faithful and tireless friend of the poor had passed away.

Leading Filipino Women: Gabriela Silang

Maria Josefa Gabriela Silang

Joan of Arc of Ilocos Region; Wife of Hero Diego Silang

(1731 – 1763)

      Maria Josefa Gabriela fought and died for the freedom of her country. She helped her husband, Diego Silang, lead a revolt against Spain in 1763. She underwent many hardships and sacrifices for the liberty and the rights of her countrymen. She was one of the bravest women in our history.

Josefa’s Parents

      Maria Josefa Gabriela came from a fighting family. Her father was a soldier and her mother had the fighting spirit, too. They were both from the town of Santa, Ilocos Sur.


      Her parents taught young Josefa to be a good housekeeper. She was a strong and healthy girl. After her parents died, she was adopted by a rich man named Don Tomas Millan. Josefa was thrifty and took good care of the house of her adopted father.


      Later on they went to live in Vigan. Here she met Diego Silang and soon married him.

Josefa Helps Diego Silang

        At that time the people of the Ilocos region were suffering from the unjust rule of the Spaniards. The people were made to pay very high taxes. The men were forced to build roads without pay. The people therefore wanted to free themselves from the rule of the unjust officials.


        Diego Silang and his wife were among those who suffered from these abuses. Diego said, “I will lead the people of the Ilocos to free themselves. We will put down the government of these unjust officials. We will revolt!”


        “I will fight by your side,” promised Josefa.


        “Diego Silang started the revolt in 1763. Many of the people of the Ilocos rose against the unjust officials and put themselves under the leadership of Silang. Josefa went with her husband to the battlefields. She fought side by side with him. Diego led his men well. The revolt succeeded and the cruel officials were driven out of the Ilocos.


         But Diego Silang was not to live long. A traitor soon put to an end his brave life. One of his men, Miguel Vicos, was the traitor. The Spaniards gave Vicos money to kill Diego. So one day he went to Diego Silang and pretended that his visit was friendly. When Diego turned his back, Vicos shot him.

Jose Fights On

              At the sound of the shot, Josefa rushed into the room. She saw her husband on the floor, bleeding badly. As she lifted his head, he said, “Josefa, I shall die, but you must carry on the fight. Our people will need a leader. Promise me you will lead them!”


         “I will,” promised Josefa to her dying husband.


         After Silang’s death Josefa went to Abra to hide for a while from the enemies of her husband. When they were no longer looking for her, she returned to Vigan. She came down from the hills one night. Then she went from house to house to call the former soldiers in Diego Silang’s army.


         “Friends of Diego Silang,” she said to them, “let us carry on the fight for freedom. There are many people in this town that will help us. And I shall lead you.”


         The people answered her call. Many men joined her army. Others who could not fight gave money and clothes. Josefa was soon at the head of a large army.


         They were ready to fight again. With Josefa as their leader, the rebels came down from the hills to attack Vigan.

The Piddig Bowmen

              But the officials of the town had learned that Josefa’s army was coming. The officials sent a group of bowmen from Piddig to fight the rebels. In the distance, with their huge bows, the Piddig bowmen threw many shadows behind them. Josefa’s soldiers thought that there were thousands of the bowmen.


         The rebels became afraid and turned back to the hills. Then many of them began to desert. They grew fewer and fewer. But Josefa did not give up.


        With her few soldiers Josefa returned again and again to attack Vigan. The governor of the province, Manuel de Arza, decided to have her captured. He sent a troop of soldiers led by a Spanish captain named Garza.

Josefa’s Death

            Josefa was captured together with her followers. She was sentenced to die by hanging. So one early October morning in 1763, the weeping townsmen of Vigan saw Josefa and sixty of her faithful followers hanged at the town plaza.


        Josefa died bravely. When the rope was placed around her neck, she said, “My poor countrymen! They will continue to suffer more wrongs. But there will be others to lead them!”


       Josefa died, but other brave men and women were to carry on the fight for freedom through the years afterward. After her came Bonifacio, Rizal, Lopez-Jaena, Tandang Sora, and many other leaders. We should always remember Maria Josefa Gabriela, for she was one of the first Filipino leaders who gave up their lives to make our country free.

Leading Filipino Women Introduction

     There is more truth than poetry in the saying that the hand that rocks the cradle moulds the lives of men and, hence, the destiny of nations. Indeed, the role of women in the building of a nation can hardly be underestimated. Someone rightly said that behind every man’s efforts to achieve a goal are the tender inspiration, the unfailing encouragement, and the unstinted support of some women. Rizal’s ambition to become an eye specialist was prompted by his desire to restore the failing eyesight of his mother. Mabini’s habits of thrift can be traced to the sacrifices his poor parents went through to give him an education. Bonifacio’s ability to evade government agents while he was organizing the K.K.K. was partly due to his wife, who took careful charge of important papers of the secret society.

     The Philippines has a long list of women pioneers and leaders about whom, unfortunately, little has been written. The history of our country, though short, is replete with the names of worthy women who took an active and self-sacrificing part in the building of our nation to what it is today. In the fields of poetry and drama, in education and social work, in philanthropy and business – in fact in almost all lines of human endeavor there have been Filipino women who, by natural ability and training, have excelled and attained heights of achievement of which young boys and girls of today should be justly proud.
      For many years the necessity of using the biographies of Filipino women nation-builders as material for instruction in our schools has been keenly felt; but for various reasons such material has not been widely used. One reason, perhaps the principal one, is the fact that there is not readily available for classroom work any collection of biographical stories that can be profitably employed. For this reason, most schoolchildren and, for that matter, most adults, although familiar with the names of many of our great men, have never heard of our women, who, just as well, deserve a place in the history of our country.
      The biographical sketches it contains should prove helpful because the incidents chosen are linked with important events in the history of our country and because the lives of the subjects exemplify the civic virtues embodied in the social studies course.
       I hope that the biographies told here will make a distinct contribution in bringing to the attention of school children the lives of worthy women whose examples should be helpful in the molding of their lives.