María Josefa Gabriela Cariño de Silang

(19 March 1731 – 20 September 1763)

Was a Filipina revolutionary leader best known as the first female leader of a Filipino movement
for independence from Spain.[1] She took over the reins of her husband Diego Silang's
revolutionary movement after his assassination in 1763, leading the Ilocano rebel movement for
four months before she was captured and executed by the colonial government of the Spanish
East Indies.

After being widowed by her first husband, Gabriela met insurgent leader Diego Silang and
married him in 1757. In 1762, as part of what would later be known as the Seven Years' War,
Britain declared war on Spain, which caused the British occupation of the Philippines.
After British naval forces captured Manila in October 1762, an emboldened Diego sought to
initiate an armed struggle to overthrow the Spanish functionaries in Ilocos and replace them with
native-born officials. He collaborated with the British occupiers, who appointed him governor of
the Ilocos region on their behalf and promised military reinforcement to help in the fight against
the Spanish. This reinforcement was, however, never delivered. During this revolt, Gabriela
became one of Diego's closest advisors and his unofficial aide-de-camp during skirmishes with
Spanish troops. She was also a major figure in her husband's collaboration with the British
occupiers. Spanish authorities retaliated by offering a reward for Diego’s assassination.
Consequently, his two former allies Miguel Vicos and Pedro Becbec killed him in Vigan on May
28, 1763.