Josefa Llanes Escoda

Filipino suffragist and WWII hero who founded the Girl Scouts of the Philippines while resisting Japanese occupation.

Josefa Llanes Escoda (1898–1945) redefined civic courage in the Philippines through education reform and wartime resistance. As the first Filipino woman with a sociology master’s degree from Columbia University, she launched nationwide literacy campaigns and co-founded the Philippine Girl Scouts in 1940.

During WWII, she secretly organized the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts into a supply network for Allied POWs, smuggling food and medicine into concentration camps. Captured in 1944, she continued teaching patriotism through folded paper messages until her execution. Her final words: "Tell the people to be brave."

Beyond her martyrdom, Escoda pioneered women’s rights – leading the 1937 plebiscite for Filipino women’s suffrage. Her dual legacy in education and resistance is honored through Josefa Escoda Memorial Schools nationwide and her face on the 1000-peso banknote.