OLIVIA

In 1905, Olivia took a competitive examination in the Philppines and received a scholarship to study in the United States. She was 16.

Introduced by then Governor General William H. Taft, the Pensionado Act of 1903 established the scholarship program which ran from 1903 to 1943. The most qualified students, called Pensionados were sent to different American schools. The goal was for the students to gain direct exposure to the United States, earn their degrees under the U.S. Government system and return to the Philippines and help administer the government.

Olivia Simeona Demetria Salamanca y Diaz was a Cavitena. In Cavite High School, she was known for her recitation of poems, dramatic performances and having learned to play the piano on her own. Her father, a pharmacist, a signer of the Malolos Constitution and the founder of Colegio Ligaya in San Roque, Cavite, Jose Salamanca regarded her as his smartest daughter. Her mother, Cresencia Diaz was from Intramuros, Manila.

She finished her high schoo in St. Paul, Minnesotal. In 1906, the Pensionados published a magazine titled, “The Filipino”. Olivia was the ‘Editor for Women’.¹ In her second year in college, she won a prize in anatomy. She also took the U.S. Civil Service examination and passed.² She then enrolled in the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia where she graduated at the age of 20 and with an average of ‘A’. She returned to the Philippines in 1910.

Olivia was the second Filipina and the first Cavitena to obtain the degree of Doctor of Medicine.³

In July of 1910, the Philippine Anti-Tuberculosis Society, (now Philippine Tuberculosis Society, Inc) was founded. Olivia was one of the charter members and the first secretary. In that same year, she was found to be suffering from tuberculosis. She passed away in July of 1913 from the very disease she specialized in at the age of 24. It was short but she lived a remarkably active life.

At the corner of General Luna and T. Kalaw in Manila, Olivia Salamanca Plaza was placed by the Philippine Medical Women’s Association.

Olivia was a profound thinker and a reader of literary and philosophical writings. She spoke in important public celebrations. She was a principal speaker at the 14th Commemoration of the Execution of the Thirteen Martyrs of Cavite.

“… in order to serve the homeland, it is not necessary to be a lawyer, a politician, or a soldier. In order to serve, self-denial and much sacrifice are needed… To love and serve the country, there is no distinction of religion, of social and professional status; there is no distinction of age, sex and affiliation… Why not sacrifice personal feelings and ambitions when it comes to work that requires union and fraternity?” ⁴

In 1981, Encarnation Alzona, Ph.D., presented a short paper discussing Olivia’s diaries translated from Spanish to English before the National Academy of Science and Technology.

In her diary, Olivia wrote about feeling alone and apparent frustration with being ill.

“I have been alone – as far as my family is concerned – in my battle for life… do they think for a moment, I wonder, that I am satisfied to be thus deprived of my chances for success, accomplishment and work? Little do they know and realize my heartache, my despair at being handicapped.” ⁵

She also wrote about perseverance and will.

“A nature such as mine is, ambitious to an extreme, cannot, will not accept unwarranted and unjustifiable limitations. Physically disabled as I am, I do not allow my ailments to interfere with my intellectual activities. My life was meant to be a busy life and my mind a busy mind, so regardless of place or circumstances, there shall be something for me to do.” ⁶

Like the rest of us, Olivia had insecurities which she also wrote about.

“Embarrassing as is the thought I cannot help entering it into this book of my life, for the truth of it seems to me more and more convincing. I am not by any means pretty, rather of the common, ordinary type of face; my conversation possesses nothing of the charm , vivacity and brilliance of most entertaining conversationalists; my manners, if anything, are awkward, lacking that polished and refined self-possession of a refined and educated girl – and yet I know, I must confess blushingly, I must have some magnetic charm hidden somewhere that makes all people enjoy even a minute of companionship with me. Whatever it is, You put it there, oh Lord, and may it serve the purpose You intended it for. It is the one source of happiness to me, for thru [sic] this magnetic charm I am able to go near and help others.” ⁷

Olivia was the first one in the Philippines to receive tuberculin. At the time, there was no specific treatment for tuberculosis. The patients were confined only at a hospital known as Santolan. ⁸ She thought of her being the first subjected to tuberculin as public service.

“I am glad, because I afford the best chances for its actions to be carefully noted. If tuberculin proves effective in the care of T.B. by the experiment made on me, I would feel as if I have rendered a public service to humanity. Should it fail… then I shall be glad also for it would save many from its dangers…” ⁹

There were few feminists in the Philippines in her time and Olivia was one of them.

“Do not take one woman or two as a type of all women… The seeming inevitable passive attitude within which society (the men) has limited woman’s sphere of action is to be blamed for. Society seems to have placed her so high and she is condemned unmercifully when she falls. Society has placed so much personal responsibility upon her, but provided her with very little justice.” ¹⁰

She had a thankful heart and wrote about the flowers, good care and kindness that she received from the nurses at the Philippine General Hospital, and the surprise presents and money from friends and other physicians.

Alas, Olivia had two specific heartaches that she wrote about when she ‘truly cried’ – ‘the true genuine cry that comes from a wounded suffering heart…’, and how she dealt with them. When her father embraced her when she had to leave for America and a heartache from a significant other.

“Through some heavenly warning or premonition, perhaps intuition, I came suddenly into the realization, without any tangible proof, at the time, that the one I loved was unfaithful to me… I have a capacity for bearing sorrow, disappointment, pain, physical and moral, deprivations of any kind and troubles of all sorts often without showing any indication of the struggle in my facial expression or my mood.” ¹¹

True to Filipinos’ grit and resilience, she wrote, “I have won the reputation…of being always happy and cheerful no matter how terrible the struggle within…” ¹²

Photo Credit: nast.ph

1. Mario E. Orosa, Author, The Philippine Pensionado Story, orosa.org
2. http://geocitiessites.com/sinupan/salamancaolivia.htm
3. Dr. Honoria Acosta, Ph.D., Author, The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D.,1889-1913, National Academy of Science and Technology 1981 Transactions Volume 3, 28-47
4. Encarnacion Alzona, Ph.D., Author, The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D., 1889-1913, National Academy of Science and Technology 1981 Transactions Volume 3, 32 – 33; Google Translate
5. Ibid, 35
6. Ibid
7. Ibid, 36
8. Anacleta Villacorta-Agoncillo, Response to: The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D. (1889-1913), National Academy of Science and Technology 1981 Transactions Volume 3, 46
9. Alzona (n 7)
10. Ibid, 39
11. Ibid,40
12. Ibid