Carmen Rosales

Biography

Did you know that Carmen Rosales was a guerrilla fighter during World War II? Carmen Rosales underground work took her to Santa Rosa, Laguna, were she was involved in the killing of a makapili (Japanese collaborator). She later fled to Silang, Cavite to evade capture by the Japanese. Carmen Rosales was a sharpshooter who toted a .45 and sometimes wore a moustache in order to disguise herself. She was taken to Pangasinan by an enamoured Japanese colonel named Yamamoto who wanted her to star in a propaganda movie - or else he would kill Filipinos. Rosales gave in but the film was never finished because American troops arrived. For her act of sacrifice to save a community, the popular star earned the people's gratitude and a barrio, Carmen, in Rosales town, Pangasinan, was supposedly named after her.