WHAT makes a woman a 'bayani'? When I think of a heroine for this Women's Month, I think of my grandmother as the highest standard.

Dr. Mercedes Cuello Lazaro Musngi, known as Dr. Mercy to the public and MommyChed to us, is our hero. Since I was a child, she told me war stories. Women in the Philippines worked as nurses, spies, guerrilla fighters and resistance fighters during World War 2 when Japan invaded the Philippines. My grandmother was one of them. At 19, she bravely stepped forward as the only female in the group to volunteer to help soldiers. At 20, she officially enlisted in the AFP. During WW2, she worked as a medical combat first aid worker for Filipino and American soldiers and even worked with Gen. Douglas McArthur. She tells me how she helped amputate soldiers without anesthesia using a bone saw and gathered their arms and legs in a bucket. Afterward, she would carry a giant pot of soup and feed the many soldiers, comforting them.