Honoring GSP founder
THE nation marks on Monday the 123rd birth anniversary of Josefa M. Llanes-Escoda, the “Florence Nightingale of the Philippines,” who died resisting the Japanese during World War II.
Unknown to many, Escoda, an educator, civic leader and social worker, was born in Dingras, Ilocos Norte on Sept. 20, 1898.
She founded the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP) in 1940, but she did not live long to see the GSP take its place on the world stage because she was executed by the Japanese in Manila on Jan. 6, 1945.
Records show that Escoda and her husband, Antonio Sr., provided medicines, foods, clothes and vital messages to Filipino and American prisoners of war, angering the Japanese Imperial Army.
An advocate of women’s suffrage and youth development, Escoda was buried in an unmarked grave either in the La Loma Cemetery or the Manila Chinese Cemetery.
Today, there’s a snowballing move to put more emphasis in informing the Filipino people, particularly the younger generation, about Llanes-Escoda’s legacy and contribution to Philippine society.
Leading the move in Congress to honor the World War II heroine is Sen. Francis “Tol” Tolentino, who wants the GSP building in Manila to be called the “Josefa Llanes-Escoda Building.”
Likewise, Tolentino proposed the renaming of the Philippine Army’s Medical Unit Corps after Escoda in recognition of her untiring social work during the last world war.
“We should have a “Escoda Military Nursing Corps” in the Philippine Army or an “Escoda Wing in the V. Luna Memorial Hospital,” Tolentino told the National Historical Commission.
Doubtless, Josefa M. Llanes-Escoda, like the other national heroes, deserves to be honored by the Filipino people.
