Among the first to join the revolution, Tia Patron was one of the organizers of the
Comite Central Revolucionario de Visayas ("Central Revolutionary Committee of the Visayas"), which formed the nucleus of what later became the Revolutionary Government of the Visayas. She nursed wounded and sick soldiers in the battlefield. She also collected war contributions from the
Chinese in Iloilo and gathered food and medical supplies, arms, and ammunition for the revolutionary forces. For this, she was considered as the “Heroine of Jaro.” History mixes her story of heroism with comedy. On 17 November 1898, the revolutionary government of the Visayas was to be inaugurated. Such an occasion called for a flag. The women of Jaro prepared a replica of the flag made by
Marcela Agoncillo for General
Emilio Aguinaldo in
Hong Kong. The problem lay in its delivery to the Santa Barbara headquarters of General
Martin Delgado. Between the two towns were Spanish guards shooting anyone suspected as being in league with the revolutionary forces. They thoroughly inspected civilians passing along the roads. Gamboa and a young lieutenant, Honorio Solinap, volunteered for the task. Gamboa wrapped the revolutionary flag around her waist, concealing it within her garments. The two went off as a husband and wife delivering
hay in a carriage. A
saber, a gift of General Aguinaldo to General Delgado, lay concealed under the hay. The carriage came upon a roadblock and the two faced danger. To divert the attention of the guards, Gamboa staged a husband and wife quarrel with herself as a domineering wife, berating an unfortunate, weak husband. As she shouted and cursed the subdued man, she also pinched, bit and boxed him. They acted their parts so convincingly that the guards, overwhelmed with laughter, allowed them pass. They delivered the flag in time for the inaugural ceremonies. ==Later life and death==