Quetua, Ralph Frederick C.

BSA301

“A National Heroine”
Melchora Aquino, also known as Tandang Sora, is often identified as the "Mother of the
Revolution”. She grew up in the hills of Balintawak, near Manila. Aquino was born of peasant
stock. She married a Filipino farmer who acted as a local official within the Spanish administrative
system. After her husband's death, she managed to raise her six children alone. Melchora Aquino
was eighty-four years old when the revolutionary cry was raised in Balintawak. When a meeting
of local Katipuneros was forced to break up because of Spanish intervention, she helped to hide
and feed the fleeing revolutionaries. After the outbreak of the revolution, she assisted the cause
by providing a refuge, feeding soldiers and nursing the wounded. Within a month of the outbreak,
Aquino was arrested by the Spanish authorities, imprisoned and interrogated. She was then
exiled to Guam for six years, arriving back in Manila in 1903 at age ninetyone. She lived on to the
age of 107.

Tandang Sora, supported the revolutionaries by offering refuge from the Spanish guards,
providing food, and nursing the wounded. She fed, gave medical attention to and encouraged
the revolutionaries with motherly advice and prayers. Secret meetings of the Katipuneros
(revolutionaries) were also held at her house. She and her son, Juan Ramon, were present in the
Cry of Balintawak and were witnesses to the tearing up of the cedulas. When the Spaniards
learned about her activities and her knowledge to the whereabouts of the Katipuneros, she was
interrogated but she refused to divulge any information. She was then arrested by the guardia
civil and was deported to Guam, Marianas Islands, where she was placed under house arrest in
the residence of a Don Justo Dungca. After the United States took control of the Philippines in
1898, Tandang Sora, returned to the Philippines until her death on 19 February 1919, at the age
of 107. Her remains were then transferred to her own backyard (now known as Himlayang
Pilipino Memorial Park, Quezon City).

She deserves to be our national heroine because she is a huge part of the revolution that
led to our independence from the spaniards. She has the courage to stand up to other people
despite her age and gender. A hero or heroine should not only be willing to die for something
that they believe in but also to live for it. Tandang Sora saved a lot of lives and if it weren’t for
her, many famlies would suffer from the loss of a loved one. While other heroes of the revolution
kill and die in the name of the country, Tandang Sora cared for the wounded for the same thing,
and that is her love for the country. One thing I’ve learned from her is that it doesn’t matter what
your excuses are, wether it’s about your age, your gender, or your skills, as long as you have the
passion to do something you think is right, you should always do it with all of your heart.