Melchora Aquino
Melchora Aquino de Ramos (January 6, 1812 - February 19, 1919) was a Filipino revolutionary known as "Tandang Sora" during the Philippine Revolution due to her young age. For her contributions, she was dubbed the "Grand Woman of the Revolution" and the "Mother of Balintawak."
Tandang Sora ran a store in her hometown that became a haven for sick and injured revolutionaries. She fed, treated, and encouraged the revolutionaries with motherly advice and prayers.
In August 1896, she hosted secret meetings of the Katipuneros (revolutionaries). As a result, she was dubbed "Woman of the Revolution," "Mother of Balintawak," "Mother of the Philippine Revolution," and Tandang Sora (Tandang is derived from the Tagalog word matandâ, which means "old"). She and her son, Juan Ramos, were present at the Cry of Balintawak and saw the cedulas being ripped up.
On August 29, 1896, she was arrested by the guardia civil after the Spaniards learned of her activities and knowledge of the whereabouts of the Katipuneros. She was imprisoned in the house of a cabeza de barangay in Pasong Putik, Novaliches, and then transferred to Manila's Bilibid Prison. She was interrogated while in prison, but she refused to reveal any information. On September 2, Governor General Ramón Blanco deported her to Guam, Marianas Islands. She and a woman named Segunda Puentes were placed under house arrest in Guam at the home of Don Justo Dungca.
Tandang Sora, like other exiles, returned to the Philippines after the United States took control of the Philippines in 1898. She died on February 19, 1919, at the age of 107, at the home of her daughter Saturnina in Banlat. Her ashes were first interred at the Veterans of the Revolution Mausoleum in Manila North Cemetery. These were then moved to Quezon City's Himlayang Pilipino Memorial Park in 1970, and finally to the Tandang Sora National Shrine in 2012.
Tandang Sora was honored by having a barangay and a road named after him in Quezon City. From 1967 to 1992, her image appeared on the Philippines' five-centavo coin. She was the first Filipina to appear on a Philippine peso banknote, in this case a 100-peso English Series bill. Tandang Sora Street is named after her in San Francisco, California, USA.
On the occasion of Tandang Sora's 200th birthday in 2012, the Quezon City Local Government decided to relocate her remains from Himlayang Pilipino Memorial Park to the Tandang Sora National Shrine in Quezon City. Tandang Sora Year was also declared by the city government in 2012.
Her descendants have various surnames, with almost all of them living in Quezon City's Novaliches and Tandang Sora districts, as well as in Guam, including Figueroa, Ramos (her husband's surname), Geronimo, Eugenio, Cleofas, and Apo. The BRP Melchora Aquino, a new 97-meter Philippine Coast Guard vessel, was named after her.
