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Josefa Llanes Escoda

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In this Philippine name for married women, the birth middle name or maternal family name is Madamba, the birth surname or paternal family name is Llanes, and the marital name is Escoda.
Josefa Llanes Escoda
Josefa Llanes Escoda Monument
Josefa Llanes Escoda Monument in Ermita, Manila
Born
Josefa Llanes y Madamba

(1898-09-20)September 20, 1898
Dingras, Ilocos Norte, Captaincy General of the Philippines
DiedJanuary 6, 1945(1945-01-06) (aged 46)
Sampaloc, Manila, Philippine Commonwealth
Resting placeUnmarked grave in either La Loma Cemetery or Manila Chinese Cemetery, Manila, Philippines
Known forFounder of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines
Filipino World War II hero
Spouse(s)Antonio Escoda, Sr.

Josefa Madamba Llanes Escoda (born Josefa Llanes y Madamba; September 20, 1898 – January 6, 1945) was a Filipino civic leader, social worker, World War II heroine, and suffragette. She is most known for campaigning for women's suffrage and as a founder of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines.

Together with José Abad Santos and Vicente Lim, she was memorialized on the Philippines' 1,000-Peso banknote depicting Filipinos who fought and died resisting the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during the Second World War at the Far Eastern University in Manila.

Early life

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Escoda was born in Dingras, Ilocos Norte as Josefa Llanes y Madamba. She was the eldest of the seven children of Mercedes Madamba and Gabriel Llanes. Josefa's siblings were Florencio, Luisa, Elvira, Rosario, Purita, and Eufrocina.[1] Josefa's nickname was Pepa as a child.[2]

Josefa graduated as valedictorian in grade school from Dingras Elementary School and as salutatorian from her provincial high school in Ilocos Norte.[3] She went to Philippine Normal School in Manila to earn her teaching degree and graduated with honors in 1919. While working as a teacher, she earned a high school teacher's certificate from the University of the Philippines in 1922.[4]

Her father, Gabriel Llanes, died in 1918 due to an influenza epidemic in the Philippines.[5]

After obtaining her teacher's certificate, she became a social worker for the Philippine Chapter of the American Red Cross. The Red Cross granted her a scholarship as a pensionado to the United States in 1922, where she earned a master's degree in Sociology from Columbia University in 1925.[6] She also held a position in the National Federation of Women's Clubs (NFWC), serving as executive secretary in 1923,[7] and later serving as president from 1941 to 1944. While in the United States, Josefa joined a group of foreign students who supported an International House project in New York.[6] During her free time in the International House, she accepted speaking engagements around the United States to lecture about the Philippines to American audiences.[8] It was also her practice to wear a Filipiniana dress during her lecture tours to promote foreigners' interest in the Philippines.[9]

During her first trip to the United States, while she was at the Women's International League for Peace 1925, she met Antonio Escoda, a Philippine Press Bureau reporter from Gandara, Samar whom she later married.[10] They had two children: Maria Teresa (who later became the President of the Cultural Center of the Philippines during the 1980s) and Antonio Jr.

After her stay in the United States from 1922 to 1925, Escoda returned to the Philippines in 1926. She became a lecturer in sociology at the University of the Philippines from 1927 to 1930 and at the University of Santo Tomas from 1930 to 1932. She was appointed as the field secretary of the Philippine Chapter of the American Red Cross from 1926 to 1929, where she managed civilian relief activities in rural communities and assisted in finding jobs for the unemployed.[11]

Girl Scouts of the Philippines

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Escoda talking to young girls about the Girl Scouts of the Philippines in 1941

With the formation of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines in 1936,[12] an initiative was formed to organize a girl scout's organization in the Philippines. Escoda traveled with sponsorship from the Boy Scouts of the Philippines to the United States in 1939 to undergo extensive training in girl scouting in preparation for formally organizing a girl scout's organization in the Philippines. In her trip, she observed boy and girl scouting work in various cities in the US. She also visited the World Bureau of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides in 1940 in London for her training.[13]

Escoda returned to the Philippines again in 1940. Afterward, she began to train young women to become girl scout leaders, then organized the Girl Scouts of the Philippines. On 26 May 1940, President Manuel L. Quezon signed the charter of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines.[14][15] Helena Z. Benitez was the Chairman of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines Central Committee, while Josefa became the group's first National Executive. At the time of the charter, there were 1,000 Girl Scouts in the Philippines.[16]

World War II

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During World War II, Japanese forces invaded the Philippines. Josefa Llanes Escoda, as the president of the National Federation of Women's Clubs, continued her social work but also supported underground wartime activities against the Japanese. The two-story building of the NFWC headquarters was used as a dormitory for stranded students and teachers, and a restaurant was set up to raise funds for community kitchens in Manila and provisions for prisoners of war. The Girl Scouts of the Philippines also supported wartime activities by providing funds for social work and relief to prisoners of war in the Bataan Death March and concentration camps.[17] The Japanese allowed the NFWC to operate in community relief and support operations without interference during the occupation period.[18]

However, by 1944, news of the underground activities of Escoda and her husband Antonio had spread. As the Japanese Army pushed deeper into the country, the couple intensified their activities of supplying medicine, food, clothes, and messages to both Filipino war prisoners and American internees in concentration camps.

Lt. José L. Llanes, Commander of Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, said he saw Escoda on 14 January 1944 in the presence of her husband, Antonio Escoda. Escoda left this final message to Lt. José L. Llanes:[19]

"I have done my duty to my country and God! To my mind the most I have done is having helped with the little I could do to save the lives of the surrendered soldiers of Bataan and Corregidor. I have offered myself as a guarantor for men later released by the enemy, that they commit no anti-Japanese act, men who, if they had the guts left would continue their resistance. I have acted as guarantors not only for the sake of humanity, but also to encourage them to fight again. If you happen to survive, and I fail, tell our people that the women of the Philippines did their part also in making the ember sparks of truth and liberty alive till the last moment."[20]

Antonio was first arrested in June 1944, and Escoda was also arrested two months later on 27 August.[21] She was imprisoned in Fort Santiago, the same prison as her husband, who was executed in 1944 along with General Vicente Lim, who was imprisoned with him. On 6 January 1945, Josefa Llanes Escoda was then taken and held in one of the buildings of Far Eastern University occupied by the Japanese. She was last seen alive on 6 January 1945, severely beaten and weak, and was transferred into a Japanese transport truck. It is presumed that she was executed and buried in an unmarked grave, either in the La Loma Cemetery or Manila Chinese Cemetery, which Japanese forces used as execution and burial grounds for thousands of Filipinos who resisted the Japanese occupation.[22][unreliable source]

Legacy

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A street in Manila has been named after Josefa Llanes Escoda,[23] and monuments has been dedicated to her memory in Ermita, Manila, and her birthplace in Dingras, Ilocos Norte.[24] In 2007, a portion of the Apayao-Ilocos Norte Road was also renamed in her honor.[25] She is depicted on the current 1000-peso bill as one of three Filipinos martyred by the Japanese Armed Forces.

Various Proclamations were issued to declare 20 September, the birthday of Escoda, as Josefa Llanes Escoda Day. The first was in 1959, when President Carlos P. Garcia signed Proclamation No. 443.[26] Afterward, Corazon C. Aquino declared September 20, 1986, as Josefa Llanes Escoda Day in Ilocos Norte.[27] On 29 May 1998, President Fidel Ramos declared 1998 as the Josefa Llanes Centennial Year and 20 September 1998 as a Special Day in Ilocos Norte.[28]

The Girl Scouts of the Philippines pay homage to Josefa Llanes Escoda every 20 September by celebrating her birth anniversary with activities that commemorate her contributions to youth development and her martyrdom.[29][30]

On 20 September 2018, a Google Doodle was created to commemorate her 120th birthday.[31][32][33]

Through Presidential Proclamation 680, September 20, 2024 was declared a special non-working day in Dingras as tribute to Escoda.[34]

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Y.C. Hernandez 1998, p. 3.
  2. ^ Y.C. Hernandez 1998, p. 4.
  3. ^ S.H. Gwekoh 1952, p. 19.
  4. ^ Y.C. Hernandez 1998, p. 5.
  5. ^ S.H. Gwekoh 1952, p. 21.
  6. ^ a b Y.C. Hernandez 1998, p. 9.
  7. ^ "Filipino Heritage Month: Social Worker Josefa Llanes Escoda | Rutgers School of Social Work". socialwork.rutgers.edu. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  8. ^ S.H. Gwekoh 1952, p. 26-27.
  9. ^ S.H. Gwekoh 1952, p. 25.
  10. ^ S.H. Gwekoh 1952, p. 28.
  11. ^ S.H. Gwekoh 1952, pp. 30–31.
  12. ^ Commonwealth Act No. 111 (31 October 1936), An Act to Create a Public Corporation to Be Known as the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, and to Define Its Powers and Purposes
  13. ^ S.H. Gwekoh 1952, p. 35-36.
  14. ^ Commonwealth Act No. 542 (26 May 1940), An Act to Create a Corporation to Be Known as the Girl Scouts of the Philippines, and to Define Its Powers and Purposes
  15. ^ "Girl Scout of the Philippines". Archived from the original on 25 November 2005. Retrieved 19 August 2005.
  16. ^ Y.C. Hernandez 1998, p. 35.
  17. ^ Y.C. Hernandez 1998, p. 39-41.
  18. ^ S.H. Gwekoh 1952, p. 44.
  19. ^ Llane, Jose (1967). I Saw the Nation Travail. Manila: The Aid.
  20. ^ Y.C. Hernandez 1998, p. 45.
  21. ^ Y.C. Hernandez 1998, p. 46.
  22. ^ "ExecutedToday.com » 1945: Josefa Llanes Escoda". 6 January 2008. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2008.
  23. ^ Manila City Ordinance No. 4619 (19 September 1962), An Ordinance Renaming California Street, From Taft Avenue Dart Street, as "Josefa Llanes Escoda Street" (PDF)
  24. ^ De la Torre, Visitacion R. (2006). The Ilocos heritage. Makati City, Philippines: Tower Book House. ISBN 978-971-91030-9-7.
  25. ^ Republic Act No. 9463 (15 May 2007), An Act Naming the San Nicolas—Solsona Portion of the Ilocos Norte—Apayao Road as the Josefa Llanes Escoda National Highway
  26. ^ Presidential Proclamation No. 443 (17 September 1957), Declaring Friday, September 20, 1986, as Josefa Llanes Escoda Day
  27. ^ Presidential Proclamation No. 31 (9 September 1986), Declaring September 20, 1986, as Josefa Llanes Escoda Day in the Province of Ilocos Norte.
  28. ^ Presidential Proclamation No. 1214 (29 May 1998), Declaring 1998 as Josefa Llanes Escoda Centennial Year and September 20, 1998 as a Special Day in the Province of Ilocos Norte
  29. ^ Unite, Betheena (25 September 2020). "PH Girl Scouts celebrate 122nd birth anniversary of founder Josefa Llanes Escoda". Manila Bulletin. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  30. ^ "Girl Scouts of the Philippines to honor founder". SunStar. 17 September 2012. Archived from the original on 31 August 2024. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  31. ^ Cabeco, Gaea Katreena (20 September 2018). "Google pays tribute to Josefa Llanes Escoda on her 120th birthday". The Philippine Star. Archived from the original on 1 November 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  32. ^ "Josefa Llanes Escoda's 120th birthday". Google. 20 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  33. ^ Galvez, Daphne (20 September 2018). "LOOK: Google pays tribute to Josefa Llanes Escoda on her 120th birthday". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  34. ^ Gita Carlos, Ruth Abbey (14 September 2024). "PBBM declares special non-working days in 7 towns". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  • Hernandez, Yolanda Canseco (1998). Josefa Llanes Escoda: portrait of a heroine. Ermita, Manila: Girl Scouts of the Philippines. ISBN 978-971-91823-0-6.
  • Gwekoh, Soh H. (1952). Josefa Llanes Escoda: a life dedicated to humanitarian service: a biography. Manila: Fortune Pub. LCCN 94944987. OL 1261861M.
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