Gen. Flaviano Yengko and his lady love.
Born in Tundo, Manila on December 22, 1874, Flaviano Yengko was a law student at UST when he decided to join Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo’s revolutionary army. But unlike other brave men of his time, Yengko did it not only to free his country, but also to prove to the father of his lady love that he’s man enough to fight for a great cause.
In the book “The Price of Freedom,” Gen. Jose M. Alejandrino details how he met Yengko in Cavite in 1896. He said that Yengko was “dressed in an elegant woolen suit, neat and correct.” Of course, it was normal for a young man to be well-dressed, especially for Yengko who was courting a lady from Cavite at that time. However, it didn’t sit well with the girl’s father who preferred Yengko’s rival, a young man who was already involved in several battles.
The father insisted that Yengko didn’t deserve his daughter’s hands because the young man “does not know anything but to dress himself like a woman and is incapable of picking up a gun and fighting like a man for our cause.” These painful words soon reached Yengko who then stood up and did everything he could to prove the naysayer wrong.
Without asking permission from his mother, Yengko joined Aguinaldo’s revolutionary army in November 1896. He went on to perform his first task of delivering bags of gunpowder from Manila to Cavite. Yengko also bravely fought in Battle of Binakayan in 1896 and in a conflict with Spanish forces led by General Cornelio de Polavieja in 1897, earning him the rank of brigadier general.
Unfortunately, Yengko was fatally wounded during the Battle of Salitran (also known as Battle of Pasong Santol) in March 1897. He was immediately brought to a hospital in Imus where he was nursed by his sweetheart. At that point, Yengko finally earned the respect of his lady love’s father who previously doubted his capabilities. However, true love was not able to save him from imminent death.
Yengko became the youngest Filipino general to die in combat. He was only 23 years old.