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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-22/marcela_de_agoncillo.avif"  alt="Marcela de Agoncillo" />
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Marcela Agoncillo (
Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
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Marcela was reputed to be the prettiest in Batangas so she was fondly called <i>"Roselang Bubog"</i> and like any daughter of a rich couple, a maid or an elderly relative always accompanied her. She was sent to study at the Sta. Catalina College run by the Dominican nuns in Intramuros, Manila. It was in this school that she was trained well. She learned Spanish, music, crafts, and social graces expected from a Filipina of social stature.
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A noted singer and one who occasionally appeared in <i>zarzuelas</i> in Batangas, Marcela attracted many suitors but it was the rich young lawyer, Don <a href="https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/1148/today-in-philippine-history-may-26-1859-felipe-agoncillo-was-born-in-taal-batangas" class="news_link">Felipe Agoncillo</a>, who won her heart. The two got married and had six daughters: Lorenza, Gregoria, Eugenia, Marcela, Adela (who died at the age of 3), and Maria. Their daughters were trained to be respectable women, always reminding them to live honestly and well and to work hard without depending on the family wealth.
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One with a heart for her nation, she stood by her husband in defending their poor town mates against the corrupt Spanish authorities. Felipe was branded <i>filibustero</i> but this did not deter her loyalty to him. Instead, she calmly accepted her husband's decision to go into self-exile in Hong Kong. She and her children would later follow her hustband to Hongkong.
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June 24, 1859: Marcela Agoncillo was born in Taal, Batangas