A GROUP pushed the renaming of the Mariano Marcos State University to Josefa Llanes Escoda State University to honor her after her image was removed from the P1,000 bill.

The Move to Advance Democracy defended its move saying that Escoda was a “patriot whose heroism is unquestionable.”

Escoda was born in Dingras, Ilocos Norte.

The group said that she contributed more than Marcos during the war.

“Josefa Llanes Escoda was a champion of the women’s right to vote, founder of the Girls Scouts of the Philippines, and martyred by the Japanese for supporting the Philippine resistance,” MAD said in a statement on Facebook.

“If there is anyone worth honoring and immortalizing, it is a true patriot and martyr for freedom, not a traitor,” it added.

MMSU was established in 1978 under ex-president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. by virtue of Presidential Decree 1279.