Princess Urduja is a figure from Philippine legend, a warrior princess who is said to have ruled the kingdom of Tawalisi in the province of Pangasinan. Though whether or not she actually existed is in contention among scholars, she is still considered a popular heroine and Philippine icon, especially in Pangasinan.
The office and official residence of the governor of Pangasinan is known as the Princess Urduja building or Urduja Palace.
In his efforts to promote pre-Hispanic Filipino icons, National Artist Fernando Amorsolo made several paintings in the 1950s depicting Princess Urduja. Because of the lack of historical data about 14th-century Philippines, most of the details of his depiction - such as clothing and weaponry - came from Amorsolo's imagination.
The whole term bayanihan refers to a spirit of communal unity or effort to achieve a particular objective. Bayanihan is taken from the root word bayani meaning “hero”. Thus, bayanihan means being a hero to one another. As in the classic tradition of carrying a house, each man carries a portion of the weight of the house and in effect, becomes a hero for all the others because he lightens the load for the others. Each man thus becomes a Hero to everyone as all the others become a Hero to him.