First and forgotten Aquino heroine

Ninoy Aquino was undoubtedly a hero. He believed that the Filipinos were worth dying for and he died for them. His widow became the President of the Philippines and she will historically be remembered as our first woman president. But before Ninoy became a hero, we already had a heroine named Aquino that everyone seems to have forgotten. We are referring to Melchora Aquino, more popularly remembered as "Tandang Sora" and "Mother of the Philippine Revolution" whose 192nd feast day falls today.

We have often wondered why no movie has ever been made of her heroic life. As a young girl, she was so beautiful that she played a part of Reyna Elena in several Santa Cruz de Mayo processions. As we have often said, the Santa Cruz de Mayo was actually a beauty pageant in disguise. She had also a great singing voice that she was generally asked to sing during the readings of Christ’s passion even outside her own barrio. She married Fulgencio Ramos who was the cabeza de barangay of her barrio and had six children. She became a widow soon after and managed to bring up all her children by running her family’s farm.

When the revolution broke out, the Katipuneros gave her the name "Tandang Sora" because it was she who supplied them with food raised from her farm. It was also she who took charge of the sick and the wounded. All that took place in barrio Banlat, Caloocan. When she got wanted by the Spanish authorities, she hid in Novaliches, but the guardia civil caught up with her. She refused to give any information about Bonifacio and his men and was deported to Guam. There she stayed until she was repatriated by the Americans. Back home, the government offered her a reward for her patriotic services. Although she was by then in a very bad financial state, she refused any reward or help from the government and lived to the ripe old age of 107!

Everyone knows Gabriela Silang but very few people remember Tandang Sora. And sad to say, our so-called heroes today are just persons who have gotten popular exposure in media. The past no longer counts. Popular entertainment has taken the place of service to one’s fellowman and country. Tandang Sora is the very personification of the role that the Filipina played during the Revolution.

Our Homes for the Aged should be dedicated to Tandang Sora. By the way, by sheer coincidence her birthday was the Twelfth Day of Christmas which used to be the Epiphany, popularly called the Feast of the Three Kings.