World War II Figure, Suffragette. Josefa Madamba Llanes Escoda was a supporter of women's rights in the Philippines and considered a heroine of World War II. Born the eldest of the seven children of Mercedes Madamba and Gabriel Llanes, she attended local schools before the Philippine Normal School in Manila, graduating with honors in 1919 with a teaching degree. While working as a teacher, she earned a high school teacher's certificate from the University of the Philippines in 1922. 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 master's degree in Sociology from Columbia University in 1925. While in the United States, she supported her Filipiniana culture by wearing native attire. During her first trip to the United States, while she was at the Women's International League for Peace, she met Antonio Escoda, a reporter from the Philippine Press Bureau whom she later married and the couple had two children. After receiving training in the United States, she established the Girl Scouts in the Philippines. On May 26, 1940, President Quezon signed the charter of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines and she became the group's first national executive. Besides the Girl Scouts, she founded the Boys' Town in Manila for the underprivileged boys of Manila and the National Federation of Women's Clubs. During World War II while the Philippines were invaded by Japanese forces, she and her husband were part of an underground resistance supplying much needed medicines, clothing, messages, and food to both Filipino war prisoners and American internees in concentration camps. For this action, her husband was arrested in June of 1944 and executed, and she was arrested two months later on August 27, 1944 and imprisoned in Fort Santiago. On January 6, 1945, she was relocated in one of the buildings of Far Eastern University, which was occupied by the Japanese. She was last seen alive on January 6, 1945, but 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. Posthumously, she was awarded in May of 1948 the Medal of Freedom for their services to Filipino prisoners of World War II, the Red Cross Silver Medal, and the Armed Forces of the Philippine Legion of Honor Medal. The Girl Scout groups celebrate her birthday yearly. Streets and schools have been named in her honor. Her image in on Filipino currency as well as a postage stamp. In 1998, the Josefa Llanes Escoda Monument was unveiled.