CITY of San Fernando Vice Mayor Jimmy Lazatin on Monday, September 10, urged younger generations of Fernandinos to emulate and learn from the life values of local heroine Nicolasa Dayrit.
Lazatin, who stood as acting mayor Monday during the honor ceremonies for the local heroine, said that Dayrit provides one of the few and rare examples of Filipino women that the current generation can learn from.
“Women play a crucial role in the building of our families and communities. The younger generation of women can look into the life of Dayrit for inspiration on how to have a sense of commitment and patriotism,” Lazatin said, adding that one does not need to die for the country to be a hero.
Dayrit was born in San Fernando to well-to-do parents Florentino Dayrit, a cabeza de barangay, and Antonina Pamintuan. She was a well-educated woman during her time and was recognized as one of the best pianists in the entire province of Pampanga then.
Dayrit, together with other Kapampangan ladies during the Philippine Revolution, was known to have sewn the flag of the Pampanga Battalion that was a part of the revolutionary forces in 1898, as some historical accounts say.
In spite of her wealthy upbringing, Dayrit, together with other women leaders like Praxedes Fajardo of Bacolor, also served as volunteer at the military hospital during the Filipino-American War in 1899.
City Tourism Officer Ching Pangilinan said that Dayrit was also known as a peacemaker. Local history books has it said that then Kapampangan governor Tiburcio Hilario asked Dayrit and Praxedes for help in appeasing a very irate General Antonio Luna who was having an altercation with another revolutionary General Tomas Mascardo.
The two women offered flowers and knelt in front of General Luna and asked him to stop the confrontation with Mascardo. Without this sacrifice made by these two women, the defenses of the Filipino Revolutionary Army would have fallen to the enemy forces sooner, according to Pangilinan.
Dayrit married Dr. Vicente Panlilio with whom she had five children. During the Second World War, the Panlilios moved to Malate, Manila, having lost their home in Pampanga. Nicolasa died of heart failure on April 1, 1945.
For the past years, the City Government of San Fernando, Pampanga has paid respect and given honor to the once unsung heroine.
In 2004, Dayrit’s remains were reinterred at her monument located at the Henson-Hizon House along the City of San Fernando Heritage District. The house is presently owned by the Panlilio family.