Josefa Llanes Escoda on Stamps

Josefa Llanes Escoda (September 20, 1898–c. January 6, 1945) was a well-known Filipino advocate of women's right of suffrage and founder of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines.

Escoda was born in Dingras, Ilocos Norte. She was the eldest of the seven children of Mercedes Madamba and Gabriel Llanes. She was valedictorian in grade school and salutatorian in high school in Ilocos Norte. 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 teachers certificate from the University of the Philippines in 1922.

After obtaining her teacher's certificate, she became a social worker for the Philippine Chapter of the American Red Cross (the Philippines was a colony of the United States at the time). The Red Cross granted her a scholarship to the United States, where she earned a masteral degree in Sociology.

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 reporter from the Philippine Press Bureau whom she later married. They had two children, Maria Theresa, and Antonio. Also in 1925, she received a Master's Degree in Social Work from Columbia University.

She returned to the United States again in 1933 to undergo training in Girl Scouting sponsored by the Boy Scouts of the Philippines. Afterwards, she returned to the Philippines to train young women to become Girl Scout leaders, then proceeded to organize the Girl Scouts of the Philippines. On May 26, 1940, President Manuel L. Quezon signed the charter of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines. Josefa became the group's first National Executive.

During World War II, Japanese forces invaded the Philippines. Escoda's husband was arrested in June 1944, and she was also arrested two months later, on August 27. She was imprisoned in Fort Santiago, the same prison as her husband, Colonel Antonio Escoda, who was executed in 1944, along with General Vicente Lim, who was imprisoned with him. She was last seen on January 6, 1945. She was then evidently taken and held in one of the buildings of Far Eastern University occupied by the Japanese. It is presumed that she was executed and buried in an unmarked grave in the La Loma Cemetery which Japanese forces used as an execution and burial ground for thousands of Filipinos who resisted the occupation.

The stamp above was issued on 1973.

Jorge B. Vargas on Stamps

Jorge B. Vargas (August 24, 1890 – February 22, 1980) was a lawyer and youth advocate born in Bago City, Negros Occidental, Philippines. He graduated valedictorian from Bacolod High School in 1909 and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1911 and a Bachelor of Law degree with honors in 1914, both from the University of the Philippines. He was a founding member of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (now the Philippine Olympic Committee) in 1911 and served in its Executive Committee in 1918. He served as its second Chairman from 1935 to 1955. He was also the first Filipino member of the International Olympic Committee.

After being admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1914, he was appointed as law clerk in the Philippine Commission. He quickly rose through the ranks and was promoted to the position of Chief Clerk of the Department of the Interior in 1917.

In 1918 he served as the legislative secretary to Speaker Sergio Osmeña of the House of Representatives and in 1919 was appointed by President Manuel L. Quezon as his Executive Secretary, becoming the first in the country to serve in such a position.

Vargas was designated by Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon as mayor of the Greater Manila area in 1941. His responsibilities included administering the "open city" upon the arrival of occupational troops of the Imperial Japanese Army on January 2, 1942.

By 1942, Vargas became chairman of the Japanese-sponsored Philippine Executive Commission. During the collaborationist Second Philippine Republic, he was once asked by the Japanese to assume the Presidency, but he declined. He instead served as the regime's Ambassador to Japan. In that position, he was quoted shortly before Japanese troops were driven from Manila as stating that "we know Japan is destined for sure victory and prosperity for ages to come." Vargas served as Chairman of the National Planning Commission from 1946–1954 and was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines from 1961-1965. In 1960, the Republic of the Philippines conferred on him the Legion of Honor with the rank of Commander.

Vargas’ involvement with Scouting started in 1935 when he became a member of the executive board of the Philippine Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Together with other Philippine Scouting advocates he became one of the charter members of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines in 1936.

Upon the death of Manuel Camus in 1949 he was unanimously chosen by the National Executive Board to serve as the BSP's President and Chief Scout. He served the position of National President until 1961. He became a member of the World Scout Committee of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1951 to 1957.

Vargas was awarded the Bronze Wolf in 1959 and received other awards including the Silver Tamaraw (Philippines), Silver Fox (Canada), Silver Ibex (Austria), Silver Wolf (UK), and the White Eagle (Japan). He also became the first recipient of the Tanglaw ng Kabataan (Light of the Youth) Award of the BSP in 1961.

Date of Issue: June 3,1991