Fire razed the ancestral house of the De Peraltas, a prominent family of Dingras, Ilocos Norte, on Sept. 11, 2021. Valuable letters, documents, manuscripts, and photos that served as testament to the life and times of Enriqueta “Quitang” Guerrero de Peralta went up in smoke—and seemingly shrouded the rightful legacy of the woman dubbed the “Poetess of Ilocandia.”

But those who love Lola Quitang did not forget. The fire reignited their resolve to share with more Filipinos her remarkable life as a patriotic poet and leader of women of Ilocos Norte.

They believe there is value in remembering the woman whose initiative led to the declaration of Mother’s Day in 1921, who played a leading role in the campaign for the Filipino women’s right to vote in her province, and who pioneered the establishment of puericulture centers to take care of mothers and children in Ilocos Norte. 

All these she accomplished while she wrote a set of poetry that earned her the title of Poetess of Ilocandia.

To spread her legacy, her kin came up with a coffee table book titled “Enriqueta de Peralta: A Woman Ahead of Her Time.”

Enriqueta was indeed ahead of her time. The book’s cover photo shows her driving a tractor in her “baro’t saya.” According to the book, marketing people invited her to be a model to sell tractors to farmers because of her civic work and prominent role as a suffragette. Her town, Dingras, with its vast fertile plains, is also known as the rice granary of Ilocos Norte.

The book, published by Minda de Peralta Acacio Garcia, a grandniece of Enriqueta, chronicles her life in two parts, from her birth on July 15, 1882, to her death on April 13, 1940. The first focused on her family and sociocivic work, and the second delved on her poetry.

The book has had three launches—first, at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, Metro Manila, and then at the Philippine consulates in New York City and Hawaii. These were held in collaboration with the International Professional Association of Dingras (IPAD), an organization of the town’s top and young professionals which weighs in on relevant issues affecting the community.

IPAD organized another one at the Dingras Civic Center last March 22, during the fiesta of Dingras. Ilocos Norte Vice Gov. Cecilia Araneta-Marcos led officials and guests, including officers of the distinguished women’s organization Zonta Club of Ilocos Norte. 

During the ceremony, IPAD also honored outstanding professionals of Dingras and welcomed to its fold a select set of young professionals.

The day started with wreath-laying rites at the Enriqueta’s monument. It was officiated by Rev. Fr. Rogelio-Cornelio Molina in the presence of town officials led by Dingras Vice Mayor Erdio E. Valenzuela, Patricia de Peralta Quiason and Raoul de Peralta who both represented the De Peralta descendants, and IPAD officials led by its president, Reynaldo L. Saludares, and chair, Marilyn Baquiran.

Her marker partly read: “Nagharap sa Pambansang Kumbensyon ng Women’s Club ng Panukalang Magkaroon ng Araw ng mga Ina at Kasamang Nagtaguyod sa Lehislatura ng Karapatan ng Kababaihan sa Pagboto.”

The life-size monument was commissioned by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) in 1989. It is found along Peralta street, Barangay Albano, at the corner of the lot where the ancestral house of the De Peraltas used to stand, and has remained standing and untouched by the fire.

New York-based Patricia Quiason, the granddaughter of Enriqueta’s brother Abraham, gave a slide presentation on the highlights of Enriqueta’s life. She had actively engaged her first cousin Minda in jumpstarting the publication of the book. Together, they pulled in interested kin and friends to piece together the life of their accomplished elder.

Fortunately, important documents and photos had been copied by Minda’s daughter Katrina Garcia Diaz before the fire.

One may question the relevance of highlighting her work and the origin of celebrating Mother’s Day in the Philippines when the world now celebrates this occasion on the second Sunday of May and the cyberworld explodes with affectionate Mother’s Day greetings.

This is answered in the book which points to the Filipino core value of family where “solid mutual relationship is bound by love, understanding and respect toward each family member, especially the mother who manages the household and takes care of the family.”

On the pages leading to 1921 Circular No. 33 that designated the first Monday of every December as Mother’s Day, and which assigned the Bureau of Education in charge of the national celebration, the book showed the photo of American Governor Charles Yeater signing the order, as initiated by the Women’s Club of the Province of Ilocos Norte led by Enriqueta de Peralta.

Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon later reiterated the first Monday of December as Mother’s Day. President Corazon Aquino changed the date to the second Sunday of May under Proclamation No. 266 to coincide with the United States’ Mother’s Day. However, President Joseph Estrada officially moved the celebration back to December.

Today, the May celebration continues to be the one observed in the Philippines like many other countries. But there are still elders who fondly remember coming to school with cadena de amor or pink carnations pinned on their chest to honor their mothers in December. Those with deceased mothers pinned white carnations.

Mover for women suffrage

More photos and documents referring to the vital support of women’s suffrage by the Women’s Club of the Province of Ilocos Norte with Enriqueta as president are shown in the book.

The chapter, “The Women’s Suffrage and Movement,” focused on her “vigorous effort” to support the plebiscite on women’s suffrage in the Ilocos Region as well as in Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela, and Cagayan. “Her enthusiasm for organizing parades helped in attracting more women to her campaign,” the book cited.

The involvement of the Ilocos Norte club became pivotal when “the initial efforts for the passage of the women’s suffrage seemed to hit a stalemate in the Philippine legislature.”

Speaking to guests at the launch, Vice Governor Araneta-Marcos said she considers herself a “beneficiary of her (Enriqueta’s) advocacies.”

“As a woman I am now able to run for office…I am inspired by her as a public servant,” she said, adding that, as she campaigns for governor in the coming May elections, she is “more able to embrace that role” with the backdrop of Enriqueta’s admirable work.

Earlier at the New York City book launch, Consul General Senen Mangalile drew three lessons learned from the woman leader’s life. “First, we learn the power of purpose,” he said, adding that her work was rooted in the conviction that “communities thrive when their women are empowered, heard, and celebrated.”

He said her life also showed that “true leadership comes with willingness to serve” and that it provides a sterling reminder that “creativity and advocacy are powerful allies.”

The book outlined her ways of harnessing support from women and fighting for rightful positions for able-minded representation of her province’s issues impacting women.

Enriqueta was the fifth of eight children of Isidoro de Peralta and Monica Guerrero who were known for their patriotism. They were staunch members of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente which has its roots in the resistance movement against Spanish rule and is now also known as Aglipayan Church. 

She was one of six girls, all of whom were unmarried. She had two brothers Abraham and Ceferino, whose children Enriqueta doted on.

Her only niece, Filipinas de Peralta Acacio Guerrero, actively followed in her footsteps in civic work, and ensured that her accomplishments were recognized by the NHCP.

Minda, Filipinas’ daughter, also renders civic work as an active member of Soroptimist International of Greater Manila. She was a past president and former international director of the prestigious women’s club. In the book introduction, she wrote that by publishing the book, she hopes to “carry the torch forward so that she may continue to inspire the youth…and to encourage those with a sense of patriotism and a calling for service to others.”

Growth of puericulture centers in Ilocos

Starting as secretary of the local women’s club in 1918, Enriqueta became its president a year after. In 1920, she was appointed auditor of the Rural Credit Association (RCA) of Ilocos Norte and had since become a model for women who can have roles in improving the socioeconomic conditions of the region.

The Philippines Free Press, in April that year, cited members of the RCA as “advanced agents of economic independence…as they are as much patriots…concerned about the welfare of their people.”

Enriqueta’s work with women spurred her to build puericulture centers in various municipalities of Ilocos Norte and northern Luzon. She was president of the centers before they were absorbed by the Department of Health.

She also enlisted the services of her nephew, Dr. Rizal Guerrero de Peralta, to render free medical service to the puericulture centers as he grew his own specialization in tuberculosis cure. Dr. De Peralta was posthumously honored as one of the three 2025 Most Outstanding Professional of Dingras awardees.

Dr. De Peralta was a compassionate physician who set up the region’s first X-ray and fluoroscopy unit and used the lower floor of his house in Laoag as a haven for the sick, especially the farmers. He funded scholarships at the Peralta Elementary School and built the Laoag Rural Bank driven by altruism. 

He survived the Bataan Death March of World War II where he was a medical officer of the US Armed Forces of the Far East. Responding to the clamor to serve in government, he ran for Ilocos Norte congressman but lost to then rising politician Ferdinand E. Marcos.

In Enriqueta’s report in 1936 which she delivered before stepping down as 13-year president of the Ilocos Norte women’s club, she credited her success in providing maternal and prenatal child care and other health services to the unity and strength of members of the women’s club. She died four years later of breast cancer.

It would be “a fascinating conversation,” said Araneta-Marcos, if she would have the chance to speak to Enriqueta about the current times.

Vice Mayor Valenzuela, for his part, cited Enriqueta as “a woman of great intellect, compassion, and courage” and using “her words to challenge societal roles, to lift others up, and to preserve the rich cultural heritage of Ilocanos.”

Writing as a curious descendant who is “blown away” by her achievements, Patricia Quiason posed in the book’s postscript a set of lingering questions about her grand-aunt’s life. She wrote: “The patriotic sentiments of her family are documented in this book. Was she deeply enmeshed in this environment that she might have influenced her brother Abraham and his wife Rosa to name their second son, Rizal, and their only daughter, Filipinas? Did she also influence Rizal to become a doctor, to follow in her favorite hero’s footsteps?”

This question about her own father, Dr. De Peralta, may have popped up again in her head as she walked up the stage to receive the award on behalf of her siblings, Roberto de Peralta, a pilot who was a member of the famed Blue Diamonds team of the Philippine Air Force, Enriqueta Burton, Virginia Dolorico Claudio de Peralta, and Marisa de Peralta Kawauchi.

Patriotic fervor in poetry

In relation to her grand-aunt’s poetry, Patricia Quiason also asked, “Where did she learn the depth of understanding of the Spanish language to capture quite eloquently in Ilocano the sentiments expressed by Jose Rizal?”

Enriqueta created poems many of which extolled the valor of heroes and brought out the virtues of womanhood. She also translated into Ilocano two poems Jose Rizal wrote in Spanish, one of which was “Mi Ultimo Adios.”

Dr. Marcelino Foronda, Ilocano historian, was cited in the book, noting that she has been consistently represented in anthologies of Ilocano poetry dwelling on patriotic themes. Lilia Quindoza-Santiago, a prominent writer on Ilocanos, was also cited, identifying her poem on the Philippine flag as one of her best works.

Quite fittingly as an intermission number for the Dingras launch, a feisty set of elderly members of IPAD chose to render the poem entitled “Ti Wagaywaytayo.”

Translated in English by Cynthia Espejo Fonacier Capunitan, its last stanza cries out questions: “Our beloved, most adored flag, where are you? We’re in search of peace, we’re longing for joy; Emancipated, will we return to your side? Unchain us from bondage, recoup our lost freedom!”

For copies of the coffee table book, “Enriqueta de Peralta: A Woman Ahead of Her Time,” please contact Mrs. Minda Garcia at (02) 8532-3061