By Jacinto Salvador
Museum Guide, Museo ng Kasaysayang Pampulitika ng Pilipinas
On 12 December 1888, a group of women, some related by blood and others by marriage, bonded together, garnered their collective strength, and faced one of the most challenging circumstances of their privileged lives.
Wearing their best Sunday dress, gawgaw-soaked maria claras, accompanied by tapis and shawls of finest lace usually kept in their bauls, and ears and necks adorned with pearl earrings and tambourines, trooped to the Convento of Malolos and presented to the highest official of the land, Gov. Gen. Valeriano Weyler, a petition letter to open a night school for them. A school where they will be taught the Spanish language, at their own expense.
Their odds were slim, for the friars who still had a tight grip of influence over the natives and the secular government were also present during the meeting. The friars who were deliberately kept in the dark about the plans of the women, they were sidetracked, left confused and were just relegated to questioning the women “What is in the letter?”
THE LETTER
His Excellency, the Governor General of the Philippines.
Your Excellency: We the Undersigned young women and others, do hereby present and petition with due respect to your Excellency the following: Desirous of knowing the rich Spanish language, stimulated and grateful for your generous spirit in spreading in the country the knowledge of the Castillian language and unable to learn it in the schools of Manila – some because of the pressing circumstances in which they find themselves and others because their domestic duties prevent them from studying during the day, we humbly request your Excellency that we be granted a night school in the home of an old relative of ours where we shall attend classes accompanied by our mothers to receive lessons in Spanish grammar under a Latin professor who will be paid by us. This professor has given proof of his ability to teach Spanish in a short time. Progress has been observed among his private pupils while on the other hand, without any desire to offend them in their work, we must say that the other teachers of the town have not obtained until now positive results. It is a favor that we are sure we shall obtain from {sic} your well known generosity. May God keep your precious life many years. Malolos, December 12, 1888.
Alberta Uitangcoy, Merced Tiongson, Feliciana Tiongson, Maria Tantoco, Basilia Tantoco, Emilia Tiongson, Agapita Tiongson, Paz Tiongson. Leoncia Reyes, Aurea Tanchangco, Eugenia Tanchangco, and others without surnames: Cecilia, Aleja, Filomena, Anastacia, Rufina, Juana
(Other signatures below)
- As recorded in Graciano Lopez Jaena’s article in La Solidaridad, 15 February 1889, translated from the Spanish by Guadalipe Fores- Ganzon (1967)
THE SCHOOL
Permission to open the school was not given immediately, but it was granted nonetheless with certain conditions. First, they had to support the school themselves, because the government cannot do so, probably to discourage it. And second, that the original teacher, Teodoro Sandico, would have to be replaced by Guadalupe Reyes because the former was already marked as a “troublemaker” by the friars.
Unfortunately, the school did not last long. Teodoro Sandico, though teaching in another institution already, was accused by Church authorities of spreading immoral teachings and consuming meat during Lent. The friars then called for his arrest, and he went into hiding, prompting his own institution to close, but influencing the women’s school in the process and it too, was forced to shut down.
THE IMPACT
The Women’s boldness, unheard of at that time, was a story picked up by Spanish newspapers, eliciting criticisms from pro-friar elements but lauded and praised by Filipinos here and abroad. Graciano Lopez Jaena, who wrote articles in the La Solidaridad praising the women’s good intentions suggesting, “deserves not only applause but something more—our devoted support.” The women’s fellow Bulakenyo, Marcelo H. Del Pilar, wrote, “Because of these ladies who preached by word and by action, the idea is now spreading in the provinces that it is dishonorable for a man and for a woman to associate with the friar, and this is producing great results.” Del Pilar even encouraged Dr. Jose Rizal to boost the women’s morale by writing a letter to them in Tagalog. Rizal’s response was prompt. The following February 1889, he wrote a letter (a long essay in fact) in Tagalog, “Letter to the Young Women of Malolos” where among many other things, he specifically gave the women several habilin or pieces of advice. In closing his letter, he wrote:
“Let us therefore reflect; let us consider our situation and see how we stand. May these poorly written lines aid you in your good purpose and help you to pursue the plan you initiated. “My profit will be greater than the capital invested”; and I shall gladly accept the usual reward of all who dare tell our people the truth. May your desire to educate yourself be crowned with success: may you in the garden of learning gather not bitter, but choice fruit, looking well before you eat, because on the surface of the globe all is deceit, and often the enemy sows weeds in your seeding plot.
All this is the ardent desire of your compatriot,”
Jose Rizal
(“Magbulay-bulay tayo, malasin ang ating kalagayan, at tayo’y magisip-isip. Kung itong ilang buhaghag na sabi’y makatutulong sa ibinigay sa inyong bait, upang din maituloy ang nasimulan ninyong paglakad. “Tubo ko’y dakila sa puhunang pagod” at mamatamisin ang anomang mangyari, ugaling upa sa sino mang mangahas sa ating bayang magsabi ng tunay. Matupad nawa ang inyong nasang matuto at hari nan gang sa halamanan ng karununga’y huwag makapitas ng bungang bubot, kundi ang kikitli’y piliin, pagisipan muna, lasapin bago lunukin, sapagka’t sa balat ng lupa lahat ay Haluan, at di bihirang magtanim ang kaaway ng damong pansira, kasama sa binhi sa gitna ng ilang.
Ito ang matinding nasa ng inyong kababayang si,”
Jose Rizal)
And the women reflected, considered and took a stand. Even after the school was closed, it did not stop them from ensuring that their rights and that of others were well taken care of. Some of them became Founding Members of the Asociacion Central de Cruz de Roja (National Red Cross) established in February 1899 in Malolos, and some also became Founding Members of the Asociacion Femenista de Filpinas, established in Manila 1907.
Today, as we celebrate the anniversary of the petition letter given to Gov. Gen. Weyler, let us look back and reflect on this important part of our history. At a time when calls and shout outs of Gender Equality reverberate from women all over, isn’t it nice to know that the Women of Malolos pioneered in all these calls? That they have broken the mold of stereotypes? That your lolas, nanays, and titas in Malolos paved the way for you? In insisting, even claiming their own place under the great sun.
Sources:
The Women of Malolos by Dr. Nicanor Tiongson
To the Young Women of Malolos written by Dr. Jose Rizal, Teodoro M. Kalaw
Valerianoo and Tantoco “Ang Liham ni Dr. Jose Rizal sa mga Dalagang Taga- Malolos at ang Kasaysayan sa Likod Nito”