Rosario “Lola” Alvarez

The Trailblazing Grandmother

• Age: Passed at 68 (seen in flashbacks from age 17 to the 60s) • Identity: Trans Filipina, nurse, post-war survivor, underground activist in the ’70s • Visuals: o As a young woman: modest beauty, curly hair, full lips, always with a shawl o In older years: glamorous yet grounded, silver hair in a bun, soft voice full of weight o Wore pearls even while sweeping the porch • Personality: o Fiercely independent, witty, loving but unapologetically bold o Faced rejection from family but built her own o Left behind a trunk of letters for someone who might one day understand • Arc (through letters): o Transitioned in secret during martial law I loved and lost women and men o She chose peace over fame but left her truth behind for the next generation to discover