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.

Iloilo Sports Achievers

Inocencia Solis

Francisco Guilledo popularly known as Pancho Villa

1920s

Pancho Villa – first Philippine World Boxing Champion gained from 1922 – 1925 



1930s
Rafael Navallasca of Miagao – national champion 100 – meter dash in 1935 and 1937 NISAA (National Interscholastic Athletic Association Meet now Palarong Pambansa)

Vicente Jaropillo - Lapaz, Iloilo City – famous national baseball pitcher

Josefina Ruiz – captain of the Philippine Volleyball Team to 1934 Far Eastern Games (now the Asian Games where the team emerged as the champion.

Cesar Montinola (native of Iloilo City but studied at San Beda College) – in 1937, swam for 17 hours from Paranaque to Las Pinas
- was the first recorded swimmer of Iloilo Strait (from Iloilo Port to Jordan, Guimaras)

Sgt. Gonzalo Penasales (native of Pototan, Iloilo) – team captain of the defending national champion: Iloilo Basketball Selection Team who went to Manila to defend the title in 1941 National Open Basketball Championship Games, but were aborted due to outbreak of war.


1950s and 1960s
Inocencia Solis (native of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo) – known at that time as “the fastest woman runner in Asia”; gold medalist in 100 meter dash in 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo

Haydee Coloso – reigned over the Second Asian Games garnering two gold medals in 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly earning her the title “the fleetest mermaid in Asia” in the 50s.
- she also participated in 4x100 m freestyle relay in 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan which her team was the gold medalist.

Mutya Tirol, Thelma Tirol, Aida Ardenas, Haydee Coloso - composed the swimming quartet of Iloilo City Colleges (University of Iloilo or UI now) that garnered national championship

Rafael Hechanova – hailed as the “1951 Mr. Basketball of the Year” by the Philippine Sportswriter Association.
- Led the Philippine Basketball Team to the Asian and Olympic Games

Aida Molinos - a national champion in running
Fidel Penaranda – has played in Tokyo Olympics in 1964


1970s
Nancy Deano (Dingle, Iloilo) – figured in national and international swimming competitions

Eugene Torre (Lapaz, Iloilo City) – hitched the Ilonggo’s passion for excellence to the heights when he was named “Asia’s first chess grandmaster”. First Asian to become a grandmaster in 1975 competition in Russia.

Rosendo Balinas – another Ilonggo who was the Asia’s Second Grandmaster next to Torre

Major Mariano Nava Jr. and Enriqueta Ledesma Nava – husband and wife team, both experts in Wimbledon course and also made a name in rifle and pistol marksmanship

Alfredo Tirador (Tigbauan, Iloilo) – was 1974 regional champion in Japan at Asian Games in wrestling

Barotac Nuevo – 1979 national champion in football during the National Cup Football Games under the patronage of Dr. Roland Padilla.

Mariano Araneta Jr. (Barotac Nuevo, recently the football center of the country) – dubbed as “Mr. Football of the Philippines”


1980s
Jimmy de la Torre (Pototan, Iloilo) – a student of Western Institute of Technology, garnered the gold medal in marathon race in 1981, 11th Southeast Asian Games or SEA Games in Manila setting a new SEAG record making him “the faster man in Asia”

Arlene Rodillado (Molo, Iloilo City) – student of University of San Agustin coed 100-meter air rifle range shooting, breaking the Philippine record

Percival Alger (native of Alimodian, Iloilo) – champion in SEA (Southeast Asian) & Asian Games Fencing

Recent Ilonggo Record breakers:
1. Julio Bescuer – javelin throw, Palarong Pambansa (National Games), 1989 in Lucena City, Quezon Province
2. Policornia Balobo – 1,500 & 3000 meter run Palarong Pambansa, 1990 in San Fernando, Pampanga
3. Marife Suangue – won five golds in Palarong Pambansa, 1990, San Fernando, Pampanga and the outstanding Western Visayas athlete with the most medal and record breaker in 200 and 400 meter run in the same games
4. Magdalena Gencianeo – 100 meter run Palarong Pambansa, Lucena City, Quezon Province
5. Juvilyn Fernandez – discus throw Palarong Pambansa, 1990

Herman Suizo – gold medalist marathon, 1989 SEA Games, Philippine record holder in 42.196 km. marathon

Judy Joy Pasaporte – champion women’s division, 1991 Philippine Airlines Manila Marathon

William Magahin – 1990 Philippine Lightweight boxing champion


Other noted Ilonggos:
Ernesto M. Gorantes - cyclist
Pedro T. Favila – sprinter
Policornia A. Balobo – sprinter
Naro Cabrera - swimming


Nora E. Deslate – former master teacher from Jaro National High School is a walkathon champion

Martin Soriano (Molo, Iloilo City) – conquered the “Three Seas” : Visayas Sea (from Negros to Ajuy); Guimaras Strait (from Guimaras to Negros) and Iloilo Strait, (Iloilo to Jordan, Guimaras)

Professional players: Yves Dignadice, Ferdinand “Bong” Ravena, and Tony Boy “Weng –weng” Espinosa – all from Iloilo have made their names as Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) players

Ferdinand “Bong” Ravena – participated 13th Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6-20 as their team garnered bronze medal after powerhouse China & South Korea

Barotac Nuevo – garnered the national championship in football in 1998

Sta. Barbara National High School (Sta. Barbara, Iloilo) – garnered national championship in football in 1999.

Iloilo Trivia Tidbits

Prof. Josette Biyo

Pura Villanueva Kalaw – first woman to be crowned Queen of the Philippine Carnival (now Miss Philippines and Binibining Pilipinas) in 1908. She is also one of the pioneer woman suffragist of the country.



Iloilo - having the first public national high school outside Manila.
- Most number of ancient or historical churches (21)
- Is the most educated in the Philippines according to the report in Spain
- Having the first school for boys in Tigbauan
- Greatest number of barangay schools & colleges

Molo having eight (8) colleges
- Called “Athens of the Philippines” because of old structures there and the place were like of those in Athens, Greece

West Visayas State University – one of the best university in the Philippines


UPV (University of the Philippines in the Visayas, Miagao, Iloilo) – the biggest school campus in the Philippines


Cockfighting : Jaro Coliseum – the biggest cockfighting gym in the world

Teatro Malhabour (which was renamed Lyric Theater, King Theater, Empire Theater and eventually Dennis Theater) - one of the earliest theater in Iloilo was opened to the public on July 3, 1908. Named after Felix Malhabour a policeman and a member of the board of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. (Source: McCoy, Philippine Studies: Culture and Consciousness in a Philippine City, 1982:171)

Mr. Bischoff - a British who was the first to show films in Iloilo starting in 1903. Short features produced by Cinematographo Pastor were screened nightly from 6:30 - 9:30 in the bodega or camarin of Mr. Bischoff in Calle Real. (Source: Nick Deocampo) 


Fine Arts: Jose Mari Chan – got several awards because his soft & melodic voice


Josefa Martinez – wrote the Correct English, one of the first grammar book in the Philippines


Pura Villanueva Kalaw – wrote the first cookbook in the Philippines


Pura Villanueva Kalaw and Sofia de Veyra (native of Arevalo, Iloilo) – both of whom from Iloilo are the first women suffragist in the Philippines


Kuh Ledesma – first Filipina and Ilongga to be a judge at the Miss Universe in 1991 and Lupita Jones of Mexico was declared the winner.


Prof. Josette Biyo (science professor at Philippine Science High School, Iloilo) – the first and only Filipino to be honored by having her surname used to name for a minor planet discovered.
- the first Filipino teacher to be awarded the Outstanding Teacher by INTEL Science Engineering Fair in US.

Philippines Trivia Tidbits

Gemma Cruz – First Filipina woman to win an international beauty pageant competition, Miss International in 1964.


Gloria Diaz – First Filipina woman to win the Miss Universe in 1969.


Espectaculo Scientifico – first movie shown in the Philippines on January 1, 1897
Salon Pertierra, Escolta – first movie theatre in the Philippines


Life of Jose Rizal – first full length film (1911)


Dalagang Bukid – first full length film made by a Filipino Jose Nepomuceno called “Father of the Philippine Movies”


Jovita Fuentes – known as “Nightingale of the Philippines” because of her outstanding performance in several countries and her former boyfriend was President Manuel Roxas and both of them came from Capiz.


May 7, 1899 - First local election held in Baliuag, Bulacan

1907 – First national election.


It was only in the year 1935 when women are allowed to vote when both Pura Villanueva Kalaw and Sofia de Veyra ( first woman suffragists of the Philippines) fight for women’s right to vote.


Juan Bacug – first to be sentenced death penalty by means of modern equipment in 1924 by electrification on electric chair.

Alimodian Town Proper Street Map

The Street Map of Poblacion, Alimodian's Town Capital