The spirit of this collection of awesome women is well represented by Remedios Gomez-Paraiso, who was a local beauty queen and high school senior when the Japanese invaded the Philippines and took over her town. When her father was executed for trying to organize a resistance, Remedios then went berserk a la Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She and her brother swore total and immediate vengeance. They joined the resistance and she trained in military tactics and strategy at the Guerilla Officers Military Academy (GOMA). She took the nom de guerre Kumander Liwayway, which meant Commander Dawn and sounds like the name of a legit super-heroine. She quickly proved herself heroic and became a company commander, and within a year chief of the military provision division, which meant that she was in charge of getting food, supplies, and weapons for the resistance army. With the Philippines occupied by the Japanese Army, this essentially meant stealing everything from THAT army to supply her own. And as far as theft goes, stealing from an invasion army is one of the most dangerous types. But Kumander Liwayway led her men on countless courageous raids, killing the Japanese and stealing their stuff, throughout the rest of the war.
And yet, the best part of Kumander Liwayway's story is that she was famous throughout the Hukbalahap because she would always brush her hair, put on makeup, and wear bright red lipstick before going into each battle! Not only did the bravery of such a femme fighter push her comrades to fight so much harder, but when a scraggly Huk dude told her that guerrillas don't wear lipstick, she said, “One of the things I am fighting for in the Huk movement is the right to be myself." She also challenged another comrade to a duel when she felt insulted by his sexual innuendos. What a babe!
After the Japanese surrender, she even continued fighting with the Huks against the corrupt postwar regime. At one point, so weakened by malaria that she physically could not resist, she was betrayed by a collaborator and captured. Accused of being a traitor and terrorist, she went up before the president himself and told him "No, Mr. President, you are wrong…We, the Huks, champion the rights of the peasants.” Almost inexplicably, the court dismissed her case for lack of evidence. What an incredible display of feminine power!
Kumander Liwayway rejoined the Huks and fought for two more years until her husband was killed and she, briefly imprisoned, decided she could no longer risk the care and safety of her young son. Even after, she continued as an advocate lobbying to get pensions for all her old Huk comrades as compensation for their roles in resisting the Japanese Empire.
You can read more about her at this awesome site!
And yet, the best part of Kumander Liwayway's story is that she was famous throughout the Hukbalahap because she would always brush her hair, put on makeup, and wear bright red lipstick before going into each battle! Not only did the bravery of such a femme fighter push her comrades to fight so much harder, but when a scraggly Huk dude told her that guerrillas don't wear lipstick, she said, “One of the things I am fighting for in the Huk movement is the right to be myself." She also challenged another comrade to a duel when she felt insulted by his sexual innuendos. What a babe!
Cute flower pattern or covert jungle camouflage?
After the Japanese surrender, she even continued fighting with the Huks against the corrupt postwar regime. At one point, so weakened by malaria that she physically could not resist, she was betrayed by a collaborator and captured. Accused of being a traitor and terrorist, she went up before the president himself and told him "No, Mr. President, you are wrong…We, the Huks, champion the rights of the peasants.” Almost inexplicably, the court dismissed her case for lack of evidence. What an incredible display of feminine power!
Kumander Liwayway rejoined the Huks and fought for two more years until her husband was killed and she, briefly imprisoned, decided she could no longer risk the care and safety of her young son. Even after, she continued as an advocate lobbying to get pensions for all her old Huk comrades as compensation for their roles in resisting the Japanese Empire.
You can read more about her at this awesome site!
