UNIQUE QUALITITES OF TWO DIFFERENT HEROES: TERESA MAGBANUA AND

AGUADA KAHABAGAN

INTRODUCTION
History does not give justice to the women who dedicated their lives to our country,
including those whose prowess in combat was much admired. Lest we forget, these men would
not have been successful in their aspirations without the support of their wives and family
members. History has shown Filipino women to be tenacious and strong-willed. Despite the
many obstacles in their path, their determination enabled them to fight for freedom, not only for
themselves and their families, but also for the motherland.

Teresa Magbanua Agueda Kahabagan

The Ilongga Teresa Magbanua, or Nay Isa, earned the title “Visayan Joan of Arc” for
leading the revolutionary army in battle in Barrio Yating, Pilar, Capiz. She was a Filipino school
teacher and military leader. When the Philippine revolution began, she did not hesitate in joining
the Katipunan despite the opposition of her husband. She was known to have joined and led
numerous battles against the Spaniards and the Americans. She was arguably the bravest Ilonggo
woman in her time as she had been known as the only woman to have ever led troops in the
Visayan region during the revolution.
Not at all like the conventional culture that we have developed acclimated to much
appreciated to centuries of medieval teaching, Western Visayan culture places tall respect on
the part of ladies. Visayan people writing puts ladies on break even with balance with men in its
creation myths and other stories, not at all like the conventional part of ladies as subservient to
the other sex. It is hence no shock that history imitates the significance of ladies in
society. Ladies have battled in wars, not fair beneath men, but nearby them as rises to.
None represent this more than the Iloilo-born ingenious of three wars, Teresa Ferraris Magbanua.
Today, not much is known of Magbanua. She isn’t the primary title that comes to intellect when
we think of our heroes. We barely have any photographs of her either, but that doesn’t make her
any less awesome.
The Katipunan itself wasn’t an egalitarian revolutionary force and largely excluded
women from the army. Eventually, though, Magbanua’s insistence and determination won over
anybody who doubted her and she was given command of a battalion of bolo troops.
Magbanua proved to be more than just talk. She was instrumental in major engagements
around Iloilo, most notably in the Battle of Barrio Yoting in Pilar, Capiz. Magbanua led 700 men
on horseback and defeated approximately 400 rifle-wielding cazadores. Barrio Yoting was
immediately followed by a victory in Sap-ong Sara, where around 1,000 bolo men fought and
decisively won against 450 Spanish regular troops. In both instances, Magbanua led her men on
horseback and established herself as the Visayan Joan of Arc. Magbanua’s skill in battle and
charisma led her to command a fairly large regiment. Her soldiers affectionately called her Nay
Isa and were almost fanatical in following her orders. Her charisma was such that she was even
able to win over notorious bandits of the time like Blas and Mora-ingnan. Magbanua was also
instrumental in the march toward Iloilo City, where she was accompanied by other generals.
The Philippines was freed in 1946, America allowed ostensible freedom to the nation,
and Magbanua saw the Philippine hail raised tall once more, without any other banners over it.
This was sufficient for her. A year afterward, in Admirable 1947, she passed absent. She had no
children and as it were lived with her sister Maria in Pagadian, Zamboanga. Magbanua was
buried by near companions and small exhibit was made of her death. Today, it
is difficult to discover follows of Teresa Magbanua’s bequest. There are no statues of the
generala who battled in three wars of freedom for her nation. Other than a couple of boulevards,
a neighborhood occasion, and a few grants named after her, Magbanua does not have the same
level of unmistakable quality within the overarching mythology of our country’s history. But we
must never forget that, just like the Visayan myths that put women within the same put as men,
the ladies of the Insurgency too merit their put within the sun.
Agueda Kahabagan, or Henerala Agueda, was the only woman general of the Army of
the Filipino Republic. She was a fierce combatant fighting alongside men in the battlefields in
Laguna.

https://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/rws/article/viewFile/3093/2910
https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/women-and-war-filipinas-heritage-
library/ZwKyk5CtcXJIJw?hl=en