Nicolasa Dayrit Panlilio
Nicolasa Pamintuan Dayrit-Panlilio, a Pampango beauty, not only spent long hours to help minister to the sick and the wounded revolutionarios but she also played a major role in appeasing General Antonio Luna during the near fatal confrontation with General Tomas Mascardo. This almost tragic incident had its own share in the early collapse of the bagbag-Quingua-Sta. Maria Defense line whose base was the Rio Grande de Pampanga.
When American forces started bombarding this area, General Luna requested reinforcements from General Tomas Mascardo in Guagua, Pampanga but the latter carried out the order tardily and grudgingly. As a result, Luna ordered Mascardo's 12 hour arrest. The latter reacted sharply, arguing to Luna's emissary that while President Aguinaldo's decree was issued to all troops of the provinces of Pampanga and Nueva Ecija, Luna's jurisdiction, this does not apply to general officers of these troops. This insubordination was further aggravated by Mascardo's message to Luna through the latter's emissary who was to implement the order, when he said, "if General Luna has enough guts to enforce his decree, Mascardo has enough to resist him."
Incensed, General Luna wired Governor Tiburcio Hilario to prepare for his arrival. He also ordered a special train into which all available infantry, cavalry, and artillery forces were loaded. To Luna, Mascardo's non-cooperation was a sign of weakness in the army he headed.
At this juncture, the women of the province proved their high sense of patriotism while the men exerted every effort to bind and unite their armed forces. To the revolutionary leaders, the welfare of the Republic was greater that that of any man. Governor Tiburcio Hilario met General Luna first and pleaded with him to restore peace and unity at a crucial moment in the history of the nation. He requested a bevy of beauties led by Nicolasa Dayrit and Pampanga's Red Cross President Praxedes Fajardo, to bring flowers and kneel before General Luna. The women knelt before him on the steps of the convento in Bacolor on April 24, 1899, to dissuade the fiery General from violently confronting General Mascardo.
Governor Tiburcio Hilario, at the same time sent three emissaries to convince General Mascardo to submit himself to Luna's authority as Chief of Staff. At first Mascardo was nowhere to be found but later, he appeared in Betis, riding his quiles to inform General Luna that he was willing to follow the latter's orders. That fateful afternoon, Luna returned to his headquarters only to learn that the Bagbag-Quingua-Sta. Maria Defense Line had already fallen to the American invaders.[1]
Early Life
Nicolasa Dayrit, the beauty who led the women peace makers in Pampanga was born to Don Florentino Dayrit, a Cabeza de Barangay, and Doña Antonina Pamintuan, herself a long stemmed Patrician looking beauty, in San Fernando, on September 10, 1874. She was one of the well-educated women of her time, having studied under Don Modesto Joaquin whose school in Bacolor was the favorite center of learning. Fluent in Spanish, she was also one of the two more accomplished pianists in the province, the other being Doña Josefa Henson.
At the end of the revolution, perhaps due to the rigors of ministering the sick and the wounded, Nicolasa found herself often ill, unable to leave her bed. Many medicos treated her, to no avail. Someone advised her family to consult a young doctor who had just arrived from Madrid. Perhaps, they added, he brought with him the most modern medical trends from the Spanish Capital. Indeed, he succeeded in making her well, winning her heart besides.
Family
She married Dr. Vicente Panlilio who built for his young bride a two storey house at San Jose Street, near Doña Antonina's house right in the center of town, close to the church, the market place, and the school. It was an elegant semi-concrete house with a concrete porch and a verandah through which one entered the living room. At times, the towns people saw Doña Nicolasa in her elegant quiles, going about her chores. She spoke in a modulated voice. A little later, the first cars were imported from the United States and her family was one of the first to own one. She then rode one of the first Sedan automobiles in Pampanga.
The Panlilio's had five children: Luis, the eldest was a Harvard law graduate who became a good corporation lawyer and an industrialist, the second was Carlos who seemed to be the tallest young man in town while Teresita who looked much like her mother, married Justice Augusto Luciano of Magalang; Pablo, an American educated architect, became succesful in his field aside from being an industrialist while the youngest is Lourdes.
Death
During the Japanese occupation, like most prominent families in San Fernando, the Panlilios lost their house to the Japanese. General Masaharu Homma occupied it. When Manila was declared an open city, the Panlilios moved in, hoping that they would be more secure there. But in thew battle of Malate, Dr. Panlilio was lost, never to be seen again. Since then, Doña Nicolasa became despondent, forever wondering what had happened to her husband. She died of a heart attack, partly due to her sadness. This was on April 12, 1945 at the age of 71.[2]
Re-interment and Military Honors
On September 9, 2004, the remains of Nicolasa Dayrit were transferred from Loyola Memorial Park in Sucat, Paranaque to the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. The City welcomed her remains with full honors and an overnight vigil with members of the Philippine Marines serving as honor guards. The next day, her 130th birth anniversary, after necrological services held in the jam-packed Metropolitan Cathedral of San Fernando, Pampanga, her remains were escorted by a marching band and two platoons from the Armed Forces of the Philippines in gala uniforms and rendered full military honors, 21 volleys of fire, and taps before her remains were re-interred in a monument built in her honor.
On September 10, 2006, the National Historical Institute placed a marker in her monument, recognizing her contributions to the fight for Philippine Independence.