Josefa Llanes Escoda
Josefa Madamba Llanes Escoda (September 20, 1898 - January 6, 1945) was a Filipino social worker, civic leader, World War II heroine and suffragette. She is most famously known for campaigning women's suffrage and as the founder to the Girl Scouts of the Philippines.
She is commemorated, along with José Abad Santos and Vicente Lim, on the Philippines' 1,000-peso banknote, which depicts Filipinos who fought and died resisting Japanese occupation of the Philippines during WWII at the Far Eastern University in Manila.
Japanese forces invaded the Philippines during WWII. By 1944, word of Josefa Llanes Escoda's and her husband Antonio's underground activities had spread. As the Japanese Army advanced deeper into the country, the couple's activities of supplying medicine, food, clothing, and messages to both Filipino war prisoners and American internees in concentration camps intensified.
Antonio was arrested for the first time in June 1944, and Josefa Llanes Escoda was arrested two months later on August 27, 1944. She was imprisoned in Fort Santiago, the same prison where her husband, General Vicente Lim, was imprisoned with him, was executed in 1944. Josefa Llanes Escoda was then kidnapped and imprisoned in one of Far Eastern University's occupied buildings on January 6, 1945. On January 6, 1945, she was last seen alive, severely beaten and weak, being transferred into a Japanese transport truck. It is assumed that she was executed and buried in an unmarked grave in the La Loma Cemetery or the Manila Chinese Cemetery, both of which were used by Japanese forces as execution and burial grounds for thousands of Filipinos who resisted the Japanese occupation.
A street and a building were named after her, and a monument was erected in her honor. The Apayao-Ilocos Norte Road is also named after her, and she is depicted on the current 1000-peso bill as one of three Filipinos martyred by the Japanese Armed Forces.
Every September 20, the Girl Scouts of the Philippines honor Josefa Llanes Escoda by celebrating her birth anniversary with activities that raise awareness of her martyrdom and contribution to youth development.
On September 20, 2018, a Google Doodle was created to commemorate her 120th birthday.
