Aquino, Melchora (1812–1919)

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Aquino, Melchora (1812–1919)

Philippine heroine considered "Mother of the Philippine Revolution." Name variations: known as Matandang Sora or Tandang Sora. Pronunciation: Ah-KEEN-o. Born in barrio Banlat, Caloocan, Rizal (now part of Quezon City), on January 6, 1812; died in Pasong Tamo, in February or March 1919; daughter of Juan Aquino (a farmer) and Valentina de Aquino; married Fulgencio Ramos; children: Juan, Simon, Epifania (also seen as Estefania), Saturnina, Romualdo, and Juana.

Melchora Aquino led a normal life until she was well into her 80s, when she became a political revolutionary. In her early years, she was known in her village as a medicine woman who helped her neighbors with minor illnesses and injuries. Her marriage to Fulgencio Ramos (who would become a barrio captain) produced six children before Fulgencio's untimely death left her a widow. With a large family to support, she took over the management of the family farm and other business interests entrusted to her. Working the farm with 15 tenants, she produced enough rice and sugarcane to sustain her children to adulthood.

In the late 19th century, a movement for independence from Spain was growing in the Philippines after centuries of corrupt and indifferent Spanish colonial rule. Aquino became involved with a secret revolutionary society known as Katipunan (derived from K.K.K., Kataastaasan Kagalanggalangang Katipunan Ng Mga Anak Ng Bayan, or Highest and Most Respected Association of the Sons of the Country). Founded in July 1892 by Andres Bonifacio (1863–1897), a writer who had risen from extreme poverty, its goal was the unification of Filipinos into one nation, liberated from Spanish domination. Bonifacio's Katipunan advocated revolution, a concept that Aquino, now an old woman, also endorsed. When she became involved with the group, it had grown to almost 100,000 members.

Melchora Aquino, also known as Tandang Sora, sympathized with the rebels and let them use her store to hold meetings and to stock supplies and weapons. At first, her collaboration was not suspected because she was an old woman and considered harmless. But on an August evening in 1896, Bonifacio's rebel soldiers used her house for a rendezvous to plan the Philippine Revolution, which would free the country from Spanish rule in 1898. While Aquino was feeding the soldiers an evening meal, the guardias civil, led by a Filipino spy, invaded the meeting. Aquino and her family managed to escape to nearby Novaliches before the house was torched by the Spanish police, but on August 29 she was captured and jailed at the Old Bilibid Prison in Manila. On September 2, 1896, she and 171 other Filipinos (including one other woman, Segunda Puentes Santiago) , were charged with sedition and rebellion.

Deported to Guam, she and Santiago were placed in the custody of a wealthy Filipino who had settled on the island some years earlier. In accounts of Aquino's imprisonment and subsequent deportation, she is cited for her bravery under what must have been difficult conditions for a woman of her advanced age. There are reports of grueling prison interrogations by the Spanish inquisitor, during which Aquino held fast and refused to divulge information about Bonifacio and his men.

Aquino was set free in 1898 when the United States defeated the Spanish and established an American colonial regime over the Philippines. Melchora Aquino was 86 years old when the war ended, but she had many years ahead of her. She spent them caring for her surviving children. Declining monetary rewards for her patriotism and sacrifice, she lived in poverty, content with the knowledge that she had contributed to her country's freedom. She died in the home of her daughter Saturnina, in 1919, at the age of 107, and was interred at the Mausoleum of the Veterans of the Philippine Revolution at the La Loma North Cemetery. Later her remains were transferred to Himlayang Pilipino in Quezon City, overlooking her ancestral home. Greatly revered for her courageous participation in the liberation of her country, Melchora Aquino became known as the "Mother of the Philippine Revolution." The 50th anniversary of her death in November 1969 was commemorated by a series of three postage stamps in her honor.