Nipa huts served as their makeshift hospitals. And when the convent was burned as well, they had no choice but to move into fish ponds and start all over again.ĭescribing what they had been through as difficult would be an understatement. Their resilience saw them transferring to a convent after the Japanese burned their hospital to the ground. Pablan’s mission was to survive the war so that others could survive as well. Pablan and her staff after they had returned from the fish ponds to Hermosa where they reopened their hospital when the Americans arrived.” Source: May 1945 issue of the American Journal of Nursing.Ī UST graduate, Dr. But it wouldn’t be long before they finally realized that they stayed there for a reason. Pablan said that their decision was partly because they were all single. One by one, other medical professionals left Bataan until there were only three of them–and a few who arrived later–remained. Calvan had promised not to leave Hermosa town in Bataan during WWII.Īnd boy did they stay true to their word. Pablan and nurses Carmen Lanot and Bruna R. Since their horrifying firsthand encounter with the “Death March” victims, Dr. Original photos came from the May, 1945 issue of the American Journal of Nursing. Among her accomplishments as a retired teacher included an award for short story writing from the National Board of Directors of the Philippine Normal College Alumni Association, Inc.Īmparo also received the Philippine Veterans Legion Gold Medal as an Outstanding Filipino Woman Veteran of WWII.Ĥ. In addition to attending the wounded soldiers and sick civilians, she also performed menial tasks in the camp such as cooking, running errands, and even fetching water for the guerrilla fighters.Įven after the war, Amparo was still productive. READ: The Japanese Woman Who Saved Hundreds of Filipinos During WWIIīut the teacher-warrior fought her way to victory. She later married another educator, Luciano Bonicillo, and both of them joined the Resistance movement when the war broke out.Īside from doing espionage and propaganda works, Amparo channeled her inner warrior to kill as much as 22 enemies with her firearm. In the process, she experienced a lot of near-death encounters, hunger, diseases, and a lot of terrible things that would have been too much even to a male soldier. Amparo Quintos-Bonicillo.īorn on November 29, 1915, this Pangasinan native grew up to be a respected teacher in their community. Shortly after that, Elena Poblete met her tragic end after a bullet pierced through above her right brow. She then joined other Huk soldiers in the front line of defense, and in so doing made herself an easy target for the Japanese. Thankfully, Kumander Mameng had enough presence of mind to order her men to disperse in smaller groups. It quickly dawned on the Huks that they were under attack. Exploding enemy bombs woke them up the following morning. For some reason, the Japanese were able to trace their location. In 1943, after a tiring cat-and-mouse chase with the Japanese, Kumander Mameng decided to retreat to Saguin (Pampanga) and give the soldiers plenty of time to rest.Īlso Read: 9 Kickass Women in Philippine History You’ve Never Heard Of The little information we have about this Kapampangan warrior came from Moises Lopez, a Huk veteran from Minalin who belonged to the same squadron where Elena, also known as Kumander Mameng, served as commander. Nepomuceno Center for Kapampangan Studies of Holy Angel Universityīeing the daughter of Huk commander Jose Poblete (alias Kumander Banal), it came as no surprise when the young Elena took a similar path. Capistrano, on the other hand, assumed various roles during the latter part of her career: as a labor leader in the 1950s and captain of the UP Women’s Rifle and Pistol Team.Ģ. Until it was dissolved in 2013, the WAC had served as an all-women administrative arm of the Philippine military. In 1963, then President Diosdado Macapagal made the Women’s Auxiliary Corps (WAC) an official part of the AFP. Such was her dedication to WAS that Capistrano refused to accept the Military Merit Medal in 1946, demanding that WAS be recognized first as an official military unit. These brave women–which included Muslim royalties like Princess Tarhata Alonto–not only nursed the wounded soldiers but also served as spies for the Filipino-American forces. Under Capistrano’s leadership, WAS members ballooned to an impressive 3,000 by the end of WWII. In 1943, the middle-aged Capistrano founded the Women’s Auxiliary Service (WAS) which inspired a lot of women from Mindanao to stand up and join the war. The fact that she’s been dubbed as “Mindanao’s Gabriela Silang” speaks volumes about how badass Josefa Capistrano was. Source: Sulong Pilipina! Sulong Pilipinas!: A Compilation of Filipino Women Centennial Awardees
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