Librada Avelino: the first Filipina bad@ss

Pepe Alas

Jan 17

Not all defenders of the Spanish language in Filipinas were men. One of them was a distinguihed lady educator, and she was perhaps the baddest when it came to defending the Spanish language against the intruder.

Today we commemorate Librada Avelino's 150th birth anniversary. What better way to commemorate it by retelling how she stood tall —and quite literally— against acting governor-general Newton W. Gilbert's harassment.

In 1913, the Centro Escolar de Señoritas (now known by its horrid Spanglish name Centro Escolar University) which was then owned by Avelino, was holding its annual commencement exercises. As acting governor-general of Filipinas as well as the country's Director of Instruction, Gilbert was invited to the ceremonies. However, the "gentleman" from Indiana was disgusted when much of the program was read and declaimed in Spanish. Noisily leaving his seat, he grudgingly confronted Avelino onstage, much to the shock of the then Spanish-speaking Filipino audience. Gilbert rudely complained as to why Spanish was still being used when he had already ordered a directive that English should be the medium of instruction in all schools. But Avelino, proudly dressed in her Filipiniana attire, never cowered down and stood firm on her ground. Fanning herself with her abánico, she calmly told the angry US politician that English can never be learned overnight. Gilbert threatened Avelino that he will have her school's permit cancelled. Avelino, unlike many Filipino educators and politicians today, never backed down from the threat. She challenged Gilbert to simply go ahead and showed him the door.

"Usted tiene la puerta abierta", she told the rude US politician. The crowd applauded with a "¡Sí! ¡Sí! ¡Sí!", much to the chagrin of this Indiana gentleman. Fuming mad, he dashed for the door. Among the cheering crowd was Rosa Sevilla de Alvero, the first woman dean of the Universidad de Santo Tomás and the founder of the Instituto de Mujeres (now known as the Rosa Sevilla Memorial School). Seeing the angry caucasian walking towards the exit, she stealthily used her paraguas (umbrella) to make him stumble. And stumble he did, much to the roaring delight of the Spanish-speaking Filipinos.

The hilarious scene was all over the news the following day. And not a few parents whose children were enrolled in Centro Escolar de Señoritas showed their support for Avelino, writing letters of praise for her courageous stand.

^{In Memoriam: Librada Avelino, 17 de enero de 1873 – 9 de noviembre de 1934 (Wikimedia Commons).}

Do we still have courageous Filipinas (or Filipinos for that matter) like Avelino, Sevilla de Alvero, and that Filipino crowd in what was then a more agreeable CEU? Avelino and Sevilla de Alvero are just some of the true heroines that we have who still remain unknown in the mainstream Filipino consciousness that is, sadly, already addicted to foul-mouthed reality TV shows, gay-bar quality noontime programs, and the like.

May we all bring back the glory that was the Filipino Identity.

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