NICOLASA DAYRIT Y PAMINTUAN
Wife of Dr. Vicente Panlilio
By: Rafaelita Hilario Soriano

Nicolasa Dayrit, a Pampango beauty, not only spent long hours to help minister to the sick and wounded revolucionarios but she also played a major role in appeasing General Antonio Luna during his near fatal confrontation with General Tomas Mascardo.

When the American forces started bombarding the Rio Grande de Pampanga, the base of the Bagbag-Quingua-Sta. Maria Defense line, General Luna requested reinforcements from General Tomas Mascardo in Guagua, Pampanga but the latter carried out the order tardily and grudgingly. As a result, Luna ordered Mascardo's 12 hour arrest, for Mascardo's non-cooperation was a sign of weakness in the army he headed. This insubordination was further aggravated by Mascardo's message to Luna that if General Luna has enough guts to enforce his decree, Mascardo has enough to resist him.

Incensed, General Luna wired Governor Tiburcio Hilario to prepare for his arrival. He also ordered a special train into which all available infantry, cavalry, and artillery forces were loaded. Governor Tiburcio Hilario met General Luna first and pleaded with him to restore peace and unity at a crucial moment in the history of the nation. He requested a bevy of beauties led by Nicolasa Dayrit and Pampanga's Red Cross President, Praxedes Fajardo, to bring flowers and to kneel before General Luna. The women knelt before him on the steps of the convento in Bacolor on April 24, 1899 , to dissuade the fiery General from violently confronting General Mascardo.

Governor Tiburcio Hilario, at the same time sent three emissaries to convince General Mascardo to submit himself to Luna's authority as chief of staff. In the end, Mascardo appeared in Betis to inform General Luna that he was willing to follow the latter's orders.

Nicolasa Dayrit, the beauty who led the women peace makers in Pampanga was born to Don Florentino Dayrit, A Cabeza de Barangay, and Doña Antonina Pamintuan, herself a long stemmed Patrician looking beauty, in San Fernando , on September 10, 1874 . She was one of the well-educated women of her time, having studied under Don Modesto Joaquin whose school in Bacolor was the favorite center of learning. Fluent in Spanish, she was also on of the two more accomplished pianists in the province, the other being Doña Josefa Henson.

At the end of the revolution, perhaps due to the rigors of ministering to the sick and the wounded, Nicolasa found herself often ill, unable to leave her bed. Many medicos treated her, to no avail. Someone advised her family to consult a young doctor who had just arrived from Madrid . Perhaps, they added, he brought with him the most modern medical trends from Spanish Capital. Indeed, he succeeded in making her well, winning her heart besides.

During the Japanese occupation, like most prominent families in San Fernando , the Panlilios lost their house to the Japanese. When Manila was declared an open city, the Panlilios moved in, hoping that they would be more secure there. But in the battle of Malate, Dr. Panlilio was lost, never to be seen again. Since then Doña Nicolasa became despondent, forever wondering what had happened to her husband. She died of heart attack, partly due to her sadness. This was on April 12, 1945 at the age of 71.