4 MARCH

Rosa Sevilla Alvero

1879 - Rosa Sevilla Alvero, oustanding Filipina patriot, early feminist, suffragist, and educator, is born in Tondo, Manila during the Spanish colonial period; Alvero will serve in the Philippine Revolution by helping prepare food for the Filipino troops, attend to the wounded, and be one of the two women staffers of La Independencia, a wartime newspaper published by Gen. Antonio Luna in September 1898 during the second phase of the struggle against Spain; during the (early part of the) Philippine-American War (1899-1914), she will crop her hair and don a man's uniform to fight the enemy forces of the imperialist United States although a timely intervention of Gen. Marcelino de los Santos will prevent what could have been a horrible fate as her father will die a captive in the hands of the enemy Americans; Alvero will establish the Instituto de Mujeres, what would be the first Filipino-run school for girls offering primary to collegiate courses, and will help fight for women's right to vote during the American colonial period; she will be noted for a patriotically pro-women speech she will deliver before Congress in 1930 that cites the important role of women in revolutions and nation-building:

"Where a patriot or a hero sprang up, there always appeared the beneficent and inspiring figure of a mother, a wife, a daughter or a sister, ready to encourage and sustain him."

Photo credit:

http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/philippineindependence.htm