Marcela Coronel Mariño, known as “The Mother of the Philippine Flag,” hailed from a prosperous family in Taal, Batangas. She wedded Felipe Encarnacion Agoncillo, a notable Filipino lawyer, jurist and known as the “First Filipino Diplomat”, and together they had six children. Amid her husband’s exile in Hong Kong during the Philippine Revolution, Marcela and her family relocated there. In Hong Kong, General Emilio Aguinaldo commissioned her to craft the flag representing the Republic of the Philippines. Alongside her eldest daughter Lorenza and a friend Delfina Herbosa de Natividad, Marcela meticulously hand-sewed the flag based on Aguinaldo’s design, which ultimately became the official flag of the Republic of the Philippines.

During our visit to Taal, we had the opportunity to explore the Agoncillo–Mariño House. This historic Spanish Colonial Era residence, constructed by Marcela Agoncillo’s grandfather, Don Andrés Mariño, around the 1780s, stands as one of Taal’s oldest homes. On July 6, 1980, Marcela’s daughters generously donated the Mariño ancestral house, along with various furnishings and family heirlooms, to the government. It was subsequently transformed into a public museum known as the “Museo nina Marcela Mariño and Felipe Agoncillo,” now recognized as one of the national shrines overseen by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.