1. By Jose P. Rizal (February) 1889, Europe

2. Among the twenty Women of Malolos, Elisea or Seang, was one of six (the others being Mercedes Tiongson, Basilia and Teresa Tantoco, Alberta Uitangcoy, and Rufina Reyes) who remained active in political and social work from 1880s to the 1920s. In this she parallels her father’s political activities from the Spanish to the American colonial periods. Elisea T. Reyes (June 14, 1873-1969)

3. Juana T. Reyes (December 23, 1874 - June 10,1909) Like her Ate Elisea, Juana, or Anang, was born in Parancillo in Malolos in the old house of the Reyes overlooking the church plaza. Anang is the second daughter and third surviving child of Jose T. Reyes and Catalina T. Tantoco.

4. Leoncia S. Reyes (January 12, 1864 - September 14, 1948) Leoncia S. Reyes was born in Pariancillo, Malolos, on January 12, 1874, the daughter of mestizos-sangleyes Espiridion Tengco Reyes and his second wife, Alberta Leuterio Santos. Her paternal grandparents are Pedro Reyes and Maria Tengco, while her maternal grandparents are Pio Santos and Isidora Leuterio.

5. Olympia S. A. Reyes (June 12, 1876 - March 13, 1910) Olympia S.S. Reyes was born on June 12, 1876, in Pariancillo, Malolos the daughter of Espiridion de los Reyes by his third and last wife, Feliciana T. San Agustin. Her paternal grandparents are Pedro de los Reyes and Maria Tengco, while her maternal grandparents are Yndalicio San Agustin and Isabel Tiongson.

6. Eugenia M. Tanchangco (September 6, 1871 - May 17, 1969) Of all the Women of Malolos, Eugenia or Genia was the last to pass away, at the age of ninety-eight-outliving Elisea Reyes who died the same year. Her daughter, Candida (Dading), ascribes her mother as longevity to her character, which could be described as quiet, retiring, and tolerant of other people.

7. Aurea M. Tanchangco (August 24, 1872 - May 19, 1958) Oral tradition has it that of all the Women of Malolos who studied under Guadalupe Reyes at the school in the house of Rufina Reyes in Pariancillo, Aurea Tanchangco was the brightest, standing 5’1, with a thin aristocratic face and morena features, Aurea was alert and sprightly, even to her old age.

8. Basilia V. Tantoco (June 1, 1865 - September 19, 1925) The Women of Malolos exemplify a rare breed of ladies who fought for enlightenment even amidst the harassment of the forces of ignorant in Spanish Philippines. But even among them, Basilia V. Tantoco stands out for her strength of will, her fearless leadership, and the consistency and strength of her commitment to the liberation of woman and motherland.

9. Teresa T. Tantoco (October 16, 1867 - July 17, 1942) When asked to describe her aunt Teresa, Leonor T. Reyes promptly and fondly replied, Mapagbigay, meaning she was a giving person. And in truth, there is no word that characterizes Teresa more accurately giving with all its positive and negative implications.

10. Maria T. Tantoco (April 9, 1869 - October 17, 1912) For twenty years of her life, Maria, or Biyang, lived the life of what pioneer feminist Concepcion Felix-Calderon then called a mujer de la casa, or in Tagalog, babaing pambahay, an ideal wife and mother, whose life revolved around the needs of her husband and her children.

11. Born in Pariancillo on January 22, 1874, Anastacia, fondly called Taci, is the second child and first daughter of Fabian M. Tiongson and Norberta T. Camaclang. Her paternal grandparents are Atanacio Tiongson and Clara Morales; her maternal, Juan Camaclang and Antonia Tantoco. Anastacia R. Tiongson (January 22, 1874 - March 20, 1940)

12. Agapita or Pitang is known as the philanthropist who willed the majority of her family is lands for the establishment and maintenance of a hospital, to be called the Hospital of Agapita Tiongson and Sister, which would minister to the needs of her family tenants, their children, and their children for free. Agapita R. Tiongson (Ca. 1872 -ca. April 8, 1937)

13. Her father was Antonio M. Tiongson, propietario and former gobernadorcillo, and her mother, Juliana de los Reyes, both from established clan of Malolos. She was not only efficient, she was also istrika (the word that her niece ward, and godchild Mercedes Carlos- Sebastian, using to describe her). Mercedes R. Tiongson (Ca. 1870 - ca. 1928)

14. Filomena, or Mena, is the daughter of Marcos Ramos Tiongson and Juana Oliveros of Malabon, Rizal. Her siblings are Cecilia and Feliciana, two of the Women of Malolos. She went to Manila to study in a colegio, but what is certain is that she knew how to speak and read Spanish. Later in life, she read newspaper like La Vanguardia and entertained government officials with her husband in the Tiongson house, using the Spanish language Filomena O. Tiongson (Ca. 1965 -1930)

15. Feliciana or Cianang is the daughter of Marcos R. Tiongson and Juana B. Oliveros. As a young woman, Feliciana was exposed to the political struggled against the friar curate, in which her own relatives in Pariancillo were very much involved. Among these were her uncle Antonio M. Tiongson (father of Basilia Paz, Mercedes, Aleja, and Agapita Tiongson), her cousins Jose and Graciano T. Reyes and Luis H. Del Pilar and other relatives on the Tiongson side, such as Vicente T. Gatmaytan. Feliciana O. Tiongson (March 16, 1869 -October 3, 1938)

16. Of the twenty Women of Malolos, six (Elisea and Rufina Reyes, Basilia and Teresa Tantoco, Mercedes Tiongsons, Alberta Uitangcoy) remained active until the 1910s. Of these six, three (Basilia Tantoco, Mercedes Tiongson, and Alberta Uitangcoy) were outstanding because of their perseverance, leadership, and self-sacrifice. Alberta S. Uitangcoy (November 20, 1865 - June 1, 1953)

17. Rufina is one of the six ladies in the group of the Women of Malolos who did not sign her family name. But Epifanio de los Santos has positively identified her as a Reyes. Like the other Women of Malolos who were her cousins and relatives, Rufina was politicized by the events in Malolos in the 1880s. Rufina T. Reyes (1869 -November 16, 1909)

18. Of all the Women of Malolos, only two can be documented as personal acquaintances of Marcelo HJ. Del Pilar the sister Basilia and Paz Tiongson who were mentioned by name in the letters to and from Marcelo H. del Pilar (who was then in Barcelona): Basilia, or Ylia, Tiongson and her sister Paz. Basilia Reyes Tiongson (1860 -c.a. 1900)

19. Paz was one of the six ladies who signed the letter of the Women of Malolos to Governor-General Valeriano Weyler only with her first name. de los Santos, however, identities her as one of the nine Tiongsons that belonged to the group. Paz Reyes Tiongson ( Ca. 1862 -February 27, 1889)

20. Aleja was one of six Women of Malolos who did not sign her family name. But she was positively identified as one of the nine Tiongsons that signed the letter by Epifanio de los Santos, who, in the early part of the nineteenth century, settled in Malolos after he married a Torralba from there. Aleja Reyes Tiongson (Ca. 1865 - ca. 1900)

21. One of the Women of Malolos who has not been properly acknowledged by historians is Cecilia, or Ylia not only because she signed the letter of Gov. Gen. Weyler only with her first name, but more important, because historian have wrongly identified the Ylia who bravely confronted Fray Agustin Fernandez with Basilia Tiongson, instead of with Cecilia Cecilia Oliveros Tiongson (Ca. 1867- ca. 1934)

22. “No longer does the Filipina stand with her head bowed nor does she spend her time on her knees, because she is quickened by hope in the future; no longer will the mother contribute to keeping her daughter in darkness and bring her up in contempt and moral annihilation”.

23. Last October 21,2005 in Washington DC, former Supreme Court Justice Cecilia Muñoz Palma was included in the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame as one of an elite global list of Women Who Make a Difference. In 1973 she was appointed to the Supreme Court, the first woman to occupy a seat in the high court. She accepted the appointment to join the 1986 Constitutional Commission, and was elected by its members as the commission’s president.

24. The mother who can only teach her child how to kneel and kiss hands must not expect sons with blood other than that of vile slaves.

25. You know that the will of God is different from that of the priest; that religiousness does not consist of long periods spent on your knees, nor in endless prayers, big rosarios, and grimy scapularies [religious garment showing devotion], but in a spotless conduct, firm intention and upright judgment.

26. You also know that prudence does not consist in blindly obeying any whim of the little tin god, but in obeying only that which is reasonable and just, because blind obedience is itself the cause and origin of those whims, and those guilty of it are really to be blamed.

27. The official or friar can no longer assert that they alone are responsible for their unjust orders, because God gave each individual reason and a will of his or her own to distinguish the just from the unjust; all were born without shackles and free, and nobody has a right to subjugate the will and the spirit of another your thoughts. And, why should you submit to another your thoughts, seeing that thought is noble and free?

28. It is cowardice and erroneous to believe that saintliness consists in blind obedience and that prudence and the habit of thinking are presumptuous. Ignorance has ever been ignorance, and never prudence and honor. God, the primal source of all wisdom, does not demand that man, created in his image and likeness, allow himself to be deceived and hoodwinked, but wants us to use and let shine the light of reason with which He has so mercifully endowed us.

29. He may be compared to the father who gave each of his sons a torch to light their way in the darkness bidding them keep its light bright and take care of it, and not put it out and trust to the light of the others, but to help and advise each other to find the right path. They would be madman were they to follow the light of another, only to come to a fall, and the father could unbraid them and say to them: "Did I not give each of you his own torch," but he cold not say so if the fall were due to the light of the torch of him who fell, as the light might have been dim and the road very bad.

30. The deceiver is fond of using the saying that "It is presumptuous to rely on one's own judgment," but, in my opinion, it is more presumptuous for a person to put his judgment above that of the others and try to make it prevail over theirs. It is more presumptuous for a man to constitute himself into an idol and pretend to be in communication of thought with God; and it is more than presumptuous and even blasphemous for a person to attribute every movement of his lips to God, to represent every whim of his as the will of God, and to brand his own enemy as an enemy of God.

31. Youth is a flower-bed that is to bear rich fruit and must accumulate wealth for its descendants. What offspring will be that of a woman whose kindness of character is expressed by mumbled prayers; who knows nothing by heart but awits [hymns], novenas, and the alleged miracles; whose amusement consists in playingpanguingue [a card game] or in the frequentconfession of the same sins? What sons will she have but acolytes, priest's servants, or cockfighters? It is the mothers who are responsible for the present servitude of our compatriots, owing to the unlimited trustfulness of their loving hearts, to their ardent desire to elevate their sons Maturity is the fruit of infancy and the infant is formed on the lap of its mother.

32. The mother who can only teach her child how to kneel and kiss hands must not expect sons with blood other than that of vile slaves. A tree that grows in the mud is unsubstantial and good only for firewood. If her son should have a bold mind, his boldness will be deceitful and will be like the bat that cannot show itself until the ringing of vespers. They say that prudence is sanctity. But, what sanctity have they shown us? To pray and kneel a lot, kiss the hand of the priests, throw money away on churches, and believe all the friar sees fit to tell us; gossip, callous rubbing of noses....

33. Let us be reasonable and open our eyes, especially you women, because you are the first to influence the consciousness of man. Remember that a good mother does not resemble the mother that the friar has created; she must bring up her child to be the image of the true God, not of a blackmailing, a grasping God, but of a God who is the father of us all, who is just; who does not suck the life-blood of the poor like a vampire, nor scoffs at the agony of the sorely beset, nor makes a crooked path of the path of justice.

34. The cause of the backwardness of Asia lies in the fact that there the women are ignorant, are slaves; while Europe and America are powerful because there the women are free and well-educated and endowed with lucid intellect and a strong will.

35. This is our dream; this is the desire we cherish in our hearts; to restore the honor of woman, who is half of our heart, our companion in the joys and tribulations of life. If she is a maiden, the young man should love her not only because of her beauty and her amiable character, but also on account of her fortitude of mind and loftiness of purpose, which quicken and elevate the feeble and timid and ward off all vain thoughts. Let the maiden be the pride of her country and command respect, because it is a common practice on the part of Spaniards and friars here who have returned from the Islands to speak of the Filipina as complaisant and ignorant, as if all should be thrown into the same class because of the missteps of a few, and as if women of weak character did not exist in other lands.

36. First of all. That the tyranny of some is possible only through cowardice and negligence on the part of others. Second. What makes one contemptible is lack of dignity and abject fear of him who holds one in contempt

37. Third. Ignorance is servitude, because as a man thinks, so he is; a man who does not think for himself and allowed himself to be guided by the thought of another is like the beast led by a halter. Fourth. He who loves his independence must first aid his fellowman, because he who refuses protection to others will find himself without it; the isolated rib in the buri is easily broken, but not so the broom made of the ribs of the palm bound together. Fifth. If the Filipina will not change her mode of being, let her rear no more children, let her merely give birth to them. She must cease to be the mistress of the home, otherwise she will unconsciously betray husband, child, native land, and all.

38. Sixth. All men are born equal, naked, without bonds. God did not create man to be a slave; nor did he endow him with intelligence to have him hoodwinked, or adorn him with reason to have him deceived by others. It is not fatuous to refuse to worship one's equal, to cultivate one's intellect, and to make use of reason in all things. Fatuous is he who makes a god of him, who makes brutes of others, and who strives to submit to his whims all that is reasonable and just.

39. Jose Rizal had recognized that the Malolos women were empowered strong enough to educate themselves and their future children Leaders in their own right

40. The Rizal women Dona Lolay had refused to use the Christian surname imposed by Governor General Narciso Claveria. The Rizal sisters were KKK members Filipinas had come from the babaylan tradition