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Melchora Aquino (January 6, 1812 – February 19, 1919) was a Filipinos revolutionary. She became known as " Tandang Sora" ("tandang" meaning "old") because of her old age during the Philippine Revolution (1896-1899). She was also known as the "Grand Woman of the Revolution" and the "Mother of Balintawak" for her contributions.
Melchora, daughter of a peasant couple, Juan and Valentina Aquino, never attended school. However, she was apparently literate at an early age and talented as a singer and performed at local events as well as at Mass for her Church. She was also often chosen for the role of Reyna Elena during the "Santacruzan", a processional pageant commemorating Empress Helen's finding of the True Cross, celebrated in the Philippines in May.
Later in life, she married Fulgencio Ramos, a cabeza de barrio (village chief), and bore six children. As his wife she was known as Melchora Aquino de Ramos ("of Ramos"). Her husband died when their youngest child was 7 and she was left as a single parent for their children. Tandang Sora continued her life as an hermana mayor active in celebrating Festival, , and weddings. She worked hard in order to give her children education.
Secret meetings of the Katipuneros (revolutionaries) were also held at her house in August 1896. Due to the maternal nature of her help for the revolution, she received names such as "Woman of Revolution", "Mother of Balintawak", "Mother of the Philippine Revolution", and Tandang Sora ( Tandang is derived from the Tagalog language word matandâ, which means old). She and her son, Juan Ramos, were present in the Cry of Balintawak and were witnesses to the tearing up of the cedulas.
When the Spanish people learned about her activities and her knowledge to the whereabouts of the Katipuneros, she was arrested by the guardia civil on August 29, 1896. She was held captive in the house of a cabeza de barangay of Pasong Putik, Novaliches and then transferred to Bilibid Prison in Manila. While in prison, she was interrogated but she refused to divulge any information. She was then deported to Guam, Marianas Islands by Governor General Ramón Blanco on September 2. In Guam, she and a woman named Segunda Puentes were placed under house arrest in the residence of a Don Justo Dungca.Augusto V. de Viana, "In the Far Islands,: The Role of Natives from the Philippines in the Conquest, Colonization and Repopulation of the Mariana Islands. 2004:134.Isagani R. Medina, "Melchora Aquino Wife of Fulgencio Ramos," In: Women in the Philippine Revolution, Rafaelita Hilario Soriano, ed. Quezon City: Printon Press, 1995, pp 12-13.
After the United States took control of the Philippines in 1898, Tandang Sora, like other exiles, returned to the Philippines in 1903. She later became an active member of the Philippine Independent Church.
In 2012, on the celebration of her 200th birthday, the Quezon City local government decided to transfer Tandang Sora's remains from Himlayang Pilipino Memorial Park to the Tandang Sora National Shrine. They also declared 2012 as be Tandang Sora Year.
Her descendants carry different surnames, with almost all living in Novaliches and Tandang Sora districts in Quezon City as well as in Guam such as Figueroa, Ramos (her husband's surname), Geronimo, Eugenio, Cleofas and Apo.
A Philippine Coast Guard vessel was named after her, the BRP Melchora Aquino.
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