Proceedings of the first Independence congress : held in the city of Manila, Philippine islands, February 22-26, 1930 / Published under the direction of Dean maximo M. Kalaw, executive secretary, University of the Philippines.

292 INDEPENDENCE CONGRESS PROCEEDINGS

Let no retrogression, conservatism and torturing apprehension
prolong the pain of the expectancy of sacrifices that must be
endured. It behooves, therefore, the Filipino women to exercise their influence upon those fellow countrymen and women
who are afraid of the future of the Philippines in the event of
independence, in the cultivation and diffusion of a courageous
sharing in the burdens that must be borne. And I feel that
attitude toward facing the problems, helping solve them, and
in this duty the Filipino women can render an invaluable
service to the promotion of the independence movement. They
are best fit to develop and to diffuse the right attitude toward
independence because as mothers, sisters, and friends they are
potential forces in the creation of those feeling, states that give
rise to "social emotivation" and which, sociologists claim, are
fundamentally essential to group solidarity and great nationalistic undertakings.
Then a general discussion took place in which several women leaders of the country participated. Dra.
Honoria Acosta-Sison said that the women must
teach their children very early the love of country,
of things Filipino, history, scenery, nationality, etc.
Mrs. Amparo F. Gonzalez elucidated the idea of economy in the home by the strict budgeting of income
and expenditure. The custom in some Filipino homes
to pamper the young girls in their luxuries to the
sacrifice of other members of the family was lamented.
Mrs. Winnifred 0. Pablo, Assistant Professor in the
University of the Philippines, contended that in her
contact here and in America, she always found the
Filipino students proud of their country. She desired
that the women of this country should lead in emphasizing the fact that when one is a Filipino citizen, no
matter whether he is purely of Filipino parentage or
not, he is a Filipino and not a mestizo, for there is no