1945: Josefa Llanes Escoda
January 6th, 2008 Headsman
On this day in 1945, Filipina suffragist Josefa Llanes Escoda was last seen before her presumed execution by the Japanese occupying troops holding her at Manila’s Far Eastern University.
Escoda came of age with her native archipelago under American colonization. An energetic and brilliant woman, Escoda lectured in sociology at the University of the Philippines, held several civil service posts, founded the Girl Scouts of the Philippines and helped win female suffrage.
During the Japanese occupation, her efforts to aid POWs — including those on the Bataan Death March — made her the “Florence Nightingale of the Philippines”.
But she declined to do so in the capacity of Japanese collaborator and she and her husband Antonio were arrested in 1944 and executed in the weeks following MacArthur’s return and push towards Manila.
Escoda is pictured on the Philippines’ current 1000-peso bill.
Also On This Date
Possibly Related Executions
- 1942: Avraham Stern, a strange bedfellow
- 1945: Benito Mussolini, his mistress, and his aides
- 1916: James Connolly, socialist revolutionary
Entry Filed under: 20th Century, Activists, Famous, Intellectuals, Japan, Martyrs, No Formal Charge, Occupation and Colonialism, Philippines, Shot, Summary Executions, Wartime Executions, Women
Tags: Fascism
1 Comment Add your own
1. JD Merritt | January 6th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Again, my heart bleeds on hearing of another atrocity committed by the Nipponzin Barbarians who were holding the Philippines at that time..
Too many of my beloved Kaibigans received a similar fate under Nippon’s rule.
A former Horyo, JD Merritt
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