Tandang Sora: Bicentennial woman

CEBU, Philippines - Despite not being a soldier nor revolutionary, Melchora Aquino is remembered to this day as an important woman during the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

Two hundred years ago on January 6, Melchora Aquino was born to Juan Aquino and Valentina de Aquino in Banlat, Balintawak, Quezon City (formerly Barrio Banlat, Kalookan).

From the Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines: “Tandang Sora learned to read and write at a young age, and even in her youth, was respected and loved by her community. She was active in many public events, not only in Banlat but also in the surrounding barrios, and was often a participant in her barrio’s Santa Cruzan festival. She had a good singing voice and was often invited to lead many Holy Week Pabasa.”

She got married to one Fulgencio Ramos who eventually became Cabeza de Barangay. The couple bore six children: Juan, Simon, Estefania, Romualdo, Juana, and Saturnina. Upon the death of her husband, she took on the role of both mother and father to her children, and managed the family farm and other business interests.

It was also learned that she was already 84 years old when the Philippine Revolution of 1896 broke out. “Her son, Juan Ramos, was associated with the Katipunan, the members of which were the ones who gave Aquino the nickname Tandang Sora. Bonifacio and more than 1,000 of his men arrived at Ramos’ house on August 23, 1896. There, the Katipuneros engaged in what is now popularly known as the “Cry of Pugadlawin.” (Official Gazette).

Historian Teodoro Agoncillo wrote that Melchora Aquino “aided the revolutionaries—while they were her guests, she attended to them and gave them provisions: 100 cavans of rice and ten carabaos—but paid for her actions.”

“Six days later, on August 29, she was arrested by the Spaniards and held captive in the house of the Cabeza de Barangay of Pasong Putik, Novaliches. She was then transferred to Bilibid Prison in Manila a day after her arrest. While in prison, she was interrogated vigorously by a Spanish inquisitor, but she remained loyal to the cause and did not surrender information about Andres Bonifacio and the other Katipuneros. She was deported to Guam by Governor General Ramon Blanco on September 2, 1896, where she would stay until the takeover of the American Colonial Regime.

“After enduring seven years of exile, Tandang Sora would finally be repatriated by the Americans on February 26, 1903. She was brought home by the steam freighter SS Uranus along with 76 other Filipino exiles. Upon her return to Banlat, she was welcomed by all the villagers, her children, and her grandchildren.

“She spent her last years living in the hills of Balintawak. Her age prevented her from working, and she depended on her children and grandchildren for her means of living. Although the American government offered her monetary rewards for her sacrifice during the revolution, she declined them all, content that she had contributed to the revolutionary cause.

“Tandang Sora quietly passed away at the age of 107, on February 20, 1919, in the house of her daughter Saturnina in Banlat. Her remains were interred in the Mausoleo de los Veteranos de la Revolucion in Manila North Cemetery, where it remained until 1969. It was then transferred to Himlayang Pilipino where a shrine to Filipino heroes is erected.”