Photo Courtesy of https://blog.ilovebdj.com/josefa-llanes-escoda/

“If you survive, tell the people that the women of the Philippines did their part in making the ember sparks of truth and liberty alive till the last moment.” - Josefa Llanes Escoda, during the World War II.

Josefa Llanes-Escoda is popularly known as the woman on the one-thousand-peso bill. You may also recognize her as the founder of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines. She trained young women to become girl scout leaders, then proceeded to organize the Girl Scouts of the Philippines. On 26 May 1940, President Manuel L. Quezon signed the charter of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines and she became the group's first National Executive.
What not many know, however, is that she played a pivotal role in offering aid to Filipino soldiers in World War II. As the Japanese Army pushed deeper in the country during the World War II - 1944, news of the underground activities of Josefa Llanes Escoda and her husband Antonio reached far and wide. The couple had intensified their activities of supplying medicines, foods, clothes and messages to both Filipino war prisoners and American internees in concentration camps.

She became a social worker for the Philippine Chapter of the American Red Cross. The Red Cross granted her a scholarship to the United States, where she earned a masteral degree in Sociology from Columbia University in 1925. While in the United States, Josefa joined a group of foreign students who wholeheartedly supported an International House project in New York. During her free time in the International House, she accepted speaking engagements. It was also her practice to wear a Filipiniana dress during her lecture tours that sparked foreigner's interest in the Philippines.

Courtesy of:
https://blog.ilovebdj.com/josefa-llanes-escoda/
https://socialwork.rutgers.edu/news-events/news/filipino-heritage-month-social-worker-josefa-llanes-escoda
https://opinion.inquirer.net/116198/truth-liberty-josefa-llanes-escoda