The Lakambini after the Katipunan

The struggles and hardships of the honorable woman that was Gregoria de Jesus have taken the backseat in history lessons – this is what the descendants of Oriang, the Katipunan’s “Lakambini”, claim. 

 

Aside from being the widow of Andres Bonifacio, the “Supremo” and – if recent claims are to be believed – the first Philippine president, what else is there to know about Oriang?

 

A short trip to the bustling commercial district of Quiapo in Manila would reveal a lot about her life and times post-Katipunan. Located at Calle Barbosa (now Ariston Bautista St.) and adjacent to the iconic Quiapo Church is the Bahay Nakpil-Bautista, an ancestral home-turned-museum by Oriang’s descendants. 

 

Bobby Santos-Viola, a granddaughter of the Lakambini, is the president of the Bahay Nakpil-Bautista Foundation, which maintains the house.

 

“To be clear, this house is not where Katipuneros met to plan the war. That’s a misconception,” Santos-Viola clarifies. She says the house is referred to as the “Home of Katipuneros” as tribute to Gregoria de Jesus and Julio Nakpil, themselves officers of the Katipunan, who made it their home after the war ended. The museum maintains a number of exhibits including the “Dambana ni Oriang,” which displays memorabilia and other mementos from the life she lived.

 

Born in 1875 and married to Andres Bonifacio when she was 18, Oriang embraced the revolution as a young wife. When the revolution ended, with her husband Andres being one of the casualties, she retired quietly in Quiapo and married Julio Nakpil, a ranking officer of the Katipunan. It is from this home that she tried to rebuild the life she lent to the country as it fought for its freedom.

 

Family life after the war

 

The Nakpil couple had eight children, one of whom was National Artist for Architecture Juan Nakpil. In her autobiography, Oriang thanked Dr. Ariston Bautista, her sister-in-law’s husband, for treating them as family and sending her kids to school. Dr. Bautista also owned the house where they stayed and the street where it is located has been renamed in his honor.

 

One can easily assume that Oriang may have been a stern woman all her life, having lived at a time when she had to drive a garitela in the middle of the night just to smuggle the Katipunan’s arms. However, family accounts passed on by her children to their kin provide a story of a gracefully-aged woman whose spirit was not defeated even during war. 

 

In a short memoir about her mother, Caridad Nakpil Santos-Viola paints a picture of the gentle woman who raised her. She says her mother taught her and her siblings to be very orderly. As kids, they were never punished by their mother. Because of this, Caridad says the Nakpil siblings did not grow up stubborn.

 

She also took very good care not only of her family but also of the house where they lived. She kept her husband’s earnings and budgeted it accordingly. She washed and pressed his clothes so he does not look untidy when going to work. She scrubbed with her bare hands the bathroom floors and walls. For someone who lived a life on the run, she made her house look pleasing to everyone who came for a visit.

 

Oriang was also a caring aunt, gathering her nieces and nephews to her side as she reads to them an episode of “Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang” taken from her fresh edition of “Liwayway” (She was an avid reader of the publication). She also shied away from gossip, talking to the wives of the fishermen in Pasay Beach (now the area where Roxas Boulevard is) about their daily life and grind rather than about petty stories.

 

Gregoria de Jesus also graced high profile events when the Philippines was slowly building its foundations as a nation. Aside from regularly hosting the traditional Sta. Cruz de Mayo rites in Quiapo, Oriang was also one of the few women of high stature that were invited to attend the unveiling of the Oblation statue in the University of the Philippines. Indeed, she was able to lead a very active life even after the war.

 

How does one move on from a revolution? A closer look on how Oriang decidedly carried on despite the bitter aftertaste of the literal and figurative battles she’s fought reveals a lot. After all, the great woman that is Gregoria de Jesus survived the Philippine Revolution, lived through World War I and died shortly after the outbreak of World War II. It may have not been the best era to live in, but it was a perfect time for a woman like Oriang to not only build a family but also build a nation. —Irvin Cortez/CM, GMA News