When historian James Francis Warren found in the archives a letter from Juan de Lara e Irigoyen, governor-general of the Philippines, to the Queen of Spain, dated 15 June 1868, it began a journey of discovery about a typhoon, a flood, and a caring, compassionate woman named Valentina Mendoza. Her actions were officially recounted by her neighbors in the barrio of San Julian in Vigan who survived the catastrophic flooding of the Abra River and its tributaries a year prior. Mendoza’s big house, which sat on high ground, became a haven for those hundreds who lost everything, apart from their lives, in the flood’s path.
The problem was how to resurrect this remarkable story, for Valentina Mendoza’s voice was never heard in official records. Using a transdisciplinary approach that links individual agency with detailed research into the local situation, larger environmental concerns, and economic issues, Warren weaves a story about the great Ilocos flood of 1867, the marginalized voices from the underside of Abra River valley society, and an enigmatic woman whose humanitarian actions raised profound issues about the human condition.
Published in 2026.