Josefa Martinez on Stamps

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Josefa Jara Martinez (b. January 21, 1894 - d. 1987) was among the Philippines most outstanding social workers and Filipina to find social work as her career. She was the program director of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), a well-known nonprofit institution in Nueva Ecija.
 
Born in Iloilo, Martinez was the daughter of Jose Jara and Emilia Gogil. She studied at Mandurriao, Iloilo City and became the school's brightest student. Later, she was sent to Philippine Normal School as a pensionada and graduated in 1912. She practiced her career and became a public school principal before she was sent to New York in 1919 as a government pensionada.
 
She took up a degree in social work with child and family welfare as her major. She married Rufino Martinez who was an engineer and naval architect by profession. The couple was gifted with three lovely children.
 
After her quest for knowledge for social development overseas, her record as a social worker was exemplary when she came back to the Philippines. She specialized in community organization and organized seminars in community leadership and rehabilitation of the handicapped.
 
The stamp above was issued on June 1,1994.

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