TANDANG SORA - WHO IS TANDANG SORA BASIC INFORMATION

Tandang Sora - The Grandmother of the Philippine Revolution


Tandang Sora is popularly known as the “Mother of the Katipunan,” the underground organization that laid down the foundation for the Philippine Revolution. She is known as the “Grandwoman of the Revolution” and the “Mother of Balintawak”, where the Cry of Pugadlawin that signaled the first manifest resistance against Spanish rule took place. Melchora Aquino de Ramos was a Filipina revolutionary who became known as "Tandang Sora

Born in turbulent times, she disproved that age, gender, and lack of formal education were hindrances in joining the fight for Philippine independence. A mother to six children, she was widowed when the youngest was about seven and since then took the helm of the family as a single parent.

When the Katipunan rose in arms against the Spaniards, Tandang Sora was already in her eighties. But her delicate age and gender never prevented her from feeding and sheltering the Katipuneros, hosting their secret meetings in her humble home, and tending to the sick and wounded.

Whatever her small store can contribute to the revolutionary cause, Tandang Sora was more than willing to offer, prompting her fragile life to be placed in peril.

Learning about her activities, the Spanish colonial authorities ordered her arrest. Even at the point of imminent death, Tandang Sora never sold the Katipunan. She was exiled in faraway Guam in the Marianas.

With the defeat of the Spaniards in the Spanish-American War, Tandang Sora, along with other exiles, was able to return to the country where she rested in peace in her own backyard in 1919 at the age of 107 year old.

Tandang Sora broke away from the gender and age stereotypes when she raised her family on her own while actively participating in the noble cause of the revolution. Unlike many Filipinos who chose to remain in the sidelines, she risked her life and limb, notwithstanding her difficulties, to help liberate her homeland from foreign rule.

And in her quest to do so, she was banished from her country. Her success proved the strength and patriotism of women in the revolution, which history has not given much recognition.

In responding to the call for national sacrifice, Tandang Sora’s heroism knew no boundaries and actually set the standard for future generation of Filipino women and men to follow.