Relearning Ka Oryang through ‘Gregoria Lakambini' musical

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MANILA, Philippines – Gregoria de Jesus recently marked her 151st birth anniversary on May 9 this year, as her memory continues to surface across song, screen, and stage interpretations that revisit her life.

Through the years, she has reappeared in Philippine cultural works in different forms, including Ebe Dancel’s song “Lakambini” for the 2013 musical “Rock Supremo,” television dramas “Katipunan” and “Illustrado” by GMA Network, and a 2025 screenplay “Lakambini: Gregoria de Jesus” starring Lovi Poe and Gina Pareño.

Among the more recent reinterpretations is “Gregoria Lakambini: A Pinay Pop Musical” by Tanghalang Pilipino, which places Ka Oryang, played by Marynor Madamesila, at the center of “herstory” rather than in the margins.

Debuted in November 2025, the production reimagines her life through a pop musical lens inspired by contemporary P-pop aesthetics, drawing from groups like BINI. It combines choreography-driven staging and ensemble storytelling to make historical material more accessible.

Songs by hitmaker Nica del Rosario and Matthew Chang foreground Ka Oryang not only as the Lakambini of the Katipunan, but as a figure navigating resistance, grief and survival beyond textbook framing.

Watching one of the performances from the April 11 to 12 rerun at Hyundai Hall, Areté in Ateneo de Manila University surfaced several observations about Ka Oryang—some familiar, others newly highlighted, and some long present in history but rarely centered.

1. Ka Oryang was more than 'Bonifacio’s wife'

One of the most immediate reframings is how the musical resists reducing Gregoria de Jesus to her relationship with Andres Bonifacio.

Instead, she is shown as part of the operational backbone of the Katipunan, protecting documents and firearms, supporting intelligence networks, and working within the women’s chapter that sustained the movement during the Philippine Revolution.

The production also briefly foregrounds her early life, noting that she was literate and accomplished in her own right before joining the revolution. She later left formal schooling to help support her family, taking on responsibilities at home and in their farm work.

Her relationship with Bonifacio is also framed as an act of defiance, going against her father’s disapproval — already reflecting how resistance shaped her personal choices even before her revolutionary involvement.

This framing repositions her not as a figure defined by proximity to Bonifacio, but as someone whose own experiences shaped her role in the Katipunan.

2. The 'Saya’t Alampay' and the resistance

One of the musical’s standout numbers, “Saya’t Alampay,” reclaims familiar images of femininity and turns saya (long skirt) and alampay (shawl) into political language.

Its refrain, “‘Di lang abaniko, bagay rin ang sandata, handang makipagdigma, kami ang kasangga… kami ang alas na naka saya’t alampay,” reframes traditional symbols associated with Filipino womanhood.

Instead of being ornamental, the saya becomes part of revolutionary practice used for concealment, movement and coordination of Katipunan activities, such as discreet meetings and document transport.

The production also draws from historical accounts that Katipunan women, including Gregoria de Jesus, were involved in practical survival training, such as riding and handling weapons, alongside their logistical roles as custodians of materials and intel networks.

Within the staging, Gregoria and the “Lakambesties” appear in Filipiniana attire, movement, and song, reinforcing how even coded “feminine” spaces were part of revolutionary labor.

Another line, “Laban ng kababaihan ay laban ng Lakambini,” extends this framing, positioning women’s participation as inseparable from the revolution and extending it beyond support roles into training, preparedness, and active involvement.

3. Ka Oryang went through a series of losses

Ka Oryang’s life carries both public and private weight as wife, mother and Katipunera.

The musical brings forward her personal losses alongside her revolutionary work, including the death of her child with Bonifacio, Andres Bonifacio Jr., who died in infancy due to smallpox, and a subsequent miscarriage.

It also references the violence surrounding her experience during the 1897 factional split between the Bonifacio and Aguinaldo factions. Following the capture of the Bonifacio brothers in Indang, Cavite, she was arrested, physically restrained and pressured to reveal the location of Katipunan funds.

Historical accounts note attempts against her bodily autonomy during this period, though interpretations vary and there is no historical confirmation of rape.

Ultimately, the narrative also gestures toward her month-long search for Bonifacio after his execution in May 1897, as she traveled through Cavite’s mountainous terrain in Indang and Maragondon in search of his remains, without ever finding him.

4. Ka Oryang’s story continued beyond Bonifacio

Another key takeaway is the production’s refusal to end her story at tragedy.

Years after Bonifacio’s death, Gregoria de Jesus rebuilt her life and, in 1898, married composer Julio Nakpil, a close ally of Bonifacio, a commander in the north, and composer of “Marangal na Dalit ng Katagalugan,” the anthem requested by Bonifacio for the Tagalog Republic. 

This chapter is often less emphasized in popular memory, which tends to freeze Ka Oryang within revolution and loss.

With Nakpil, she later built a family and raised several children, including Juan Nakpil, who would become the country’s first National Artist for Architecture. They eventually lived in relative stability in Manila.

In her memoirs, she also left “tagubilin” or 10 lessons for the youth, drawn for her own revolutionary experiences, including reminders to honor national heroes and the widely cited line: “Matakot sa kasaysayan pagka’t walang lihim na hindi nahahayag.”

5. Pop theater as a lens for history

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Gregoria Lakambini is its use of contemporary pop musical language to tell a historical story. Similar to modern historical musicals like "Six: The Musical" or "Hamilton," the production uses catchy music, choreography and staging to bring Ka Oryang closer to modern audiences, rather than treating the past as distant or untouchable. Some of the musical’s songs are also made accessible through streaming platforms, extending its reach beyond the theater space.

In doing so, it reflects a broader shift in how historical figures are being reintroduced to younger generations, not only through textbooks or commemorations, but also through cultural forms that prioritize immediacy and relatability.

More than a century after the Philippine Revolution, Ka Oryang continues to return through different forms of storytelling. And perhaps that is what remembering her now looks like: not fixing her in a single narrative, but allowing her to be revisited again and again — through songs, screen and stage.

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