Tandang Sora is how Melchora Aquino is known to most Filipinos.She was born in Banilad, Caloocan on January 6, 1812, so she must have been at least 80 years old when the Katipuneros were making plans of revolution. She had very little education but it is said that she was so beautiful that she was always chosen to be the Maria Elena in a Santacruzan. Tandang Sora also had a good voice and was often invited to sing or to read the "Pasyon" during Holy Week
Tandang Sora was tending a small sari-sari store in Balintawak, when Bonifacio and other Katipuneros staged the first Cry of Balintawak. Her store became a refuge for sick and wounded Katipuneros whom the old lady fed, treated and encouraged as a mother would her children. Her activities were soon discovered and she was arrested her and sentenced to exile in the Marianas islands. When the Americans bought the Philippines from Spain in 1898, Tandang Sora returned home. She lived with her daughter Saturnina before her death at the age of 107 on March 2, 1919 .