After half a century, Quezon City’s very own Katipunan heroine will be coming home.
From her resting place at a private memorial Himlayang Pilipino, Melchora Aquino’s remains will be exhumed and interred at a shrine in Banlat where she was born in 1812.
This is to celebrate the 200th birthday of the Katipunan’s “Grand Old Lady” who tended to wounded revolutionaries despite the risks during the Philippine Revolution.
Her remains will be exhumed on Thursday, the eve of her bicentennial year on January 6, on orders of Mayor Herbert Bautista.
“We express our appreciation to Himlayang Pilipino. This is a genuine act of graciousness,” said senior adviser to the mayor Dr. Manuel Alba.
Alba had negotiated with Himlayang Pilipino for the transfer of the heroine’s remains.
This year was declared as Tandang Sora Year in an ordinance passed by the Quezon City council last year.
After the exhumation on Thursday, her relics will be taken to the Quezon City Hall in a flag-draped casket on a horse-drawn carriage.
The Quezon City Police District will escort the funeral procession to City Hall for a ceremony and vigil.
The heroine was 84 when the Philippine Revolution broke out in 1896 but this did not stop her from nursing wounded revolutionaries at her hut.