HHH Column: Two Slices of Life: Olivia Salamanca and Josefina “Joey” Guerrero by Bianca Angelien Aban Claveria
The HHH column is a monthly blog where members, researchers, and historians interested in themes related to history, health and healing share their thoughts on research, current affairs, or anything related to the history of medicine. Each edition features a different contributor, this month the column is written by Bianca Angelien Aban Claveria, PhD candidate at the Institute for History, Leiden University, and member of dr. Fenneke Sysling’s ERC Starting Grant project COMET: Human Subject Research and Medical Ethics in Colonial Southeast Asia. Her research project broadly covers the history of tuberculosis and leprosy in American colonial Philippines, with particular focus on biomedical experiments, physician-patient encounters, and medical ethics. In this column she offers a glimpse into the lifestyle of two Filipino women who pioneered their respective medical advocacies.
Two Slices of Life: Olivia Salamanca and Josefina “Joey” Guerrero
By Bianca Angelien Aban Claveria
In this brief account, I present glimpses into the lives of two memorable Filipino women: Dr. Olivia Salamanca and Mrs. Josefina “Joey” Guerrero. They were pioneers in their respective medical advocacies, and patriots who believed in a better future for the Philippines. All the while, they were also patients, each diagnosed with an infectious disease. However, rather than allowing themselves to be mainly defined by those diagnoses, they both rose up to challenge the stigma of their diseases. They also redefined the values and identities of an empowered Filipina of the early twentieth century.
This account begins at the ends of their respective homebound journeys: one of them leaves the United States to return home, and the other leaves for the United States to seek a new home. For my part, I find these particular endings to be promising nodes, both to look back to where they came from, and to look forward to where their continuing journey will bring them. At this point, you may not be familiar with these women, their inspiring stories, and what they each fought for. But rest assured that this narrative will at least offer you slices of their remarkable lives.
The Humble Doctor: Dr. Olivia Salamanca
On July 24, 1910, the S.S. Siberia arrived at Manila Bay, and aboard this steamship was the newly-minted Filipina physician, Olivia Salamanca. Word of her arrival had already spread throughout her hometown of Cavite, and many were eager to welcome the 21-year-old graduate of the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia. After half a decade of pursuing her studies in the United States as a colonial government-funded scholar, Olivia was coming home to the Philippines not only with a medical degree, but also with the recognition as the second Filipina (at that time) to obtain such a coveted achievement. “Was up at five; got dressed in Filipino dress and went on deck”, Olivia wrote in her diary, as she remembered the events of that day. While taking in the familiar sights and buildings of her “own dear Cavite”, she was distracted by a group of people playing music in a boat, which was making its way towards the steamship. “Little did I at first think” Olivia recalled, “that this was the launch from Cavite to welcome me.”[2]
Olivia’s modest response, even in the midst of revelry and pride, is arguably quite refreshing to the palette. Early in her life, Olivia had already distinguished herself from her peers, both in terms of talent and intellect.[3] However, seeking attention from others was something she was constantly and consciously wary of. In 1909, during the penultimate year of her medical studies in the United States, Olivia wrote in her diary a list of resolutions that she wanted to live by. Notably, her first resolution was: “To keep myself low and humble, ‘those who are low need not suffer a face.’”[4]
The Patriotic Patient: Mrs. Josefina “Joey”Guerrero
Over three decades later, another distinguished Filipina was also given a hero’s welcome, not in Manila, but on the other side of the world. On July 10, 1948, the General Pope arrived at San Francisco, and aboard this US army transport was the decorated World War II Filipina hero, Josefina Guerrero. The 30-year old former “leper spy”[5] and awardee of the American Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm, had to hurdle obstacles just to receive a special authorised permit to enter and reside in the United States.[6] Three years had already passed since “Joey” (as she was fondly called by American soldiers) successfully accomplished perilous espionage missions against the Japanese troops in the Philippines. The visible marks of leprosy (also known as Hansen’s disease) on her body worried Japanese soldiers, who consequently allowed her to freely pass through checkpoints during the occupation years. The skin lesions that made her visibly sick, made her “invisible” as she bravely crossed enemy lines, carrying valuable military information and messages. Joey’s journey to the United States, was proof of both the high regard given to her role in saving the lives of American and Philippine soldiers, and the belief that the trip could save hers. [7] As she walked along the gangplank to disembark from the ship, hundreds of people were already waiting for her. The Philippine national anthem’s melody filled the air. American army and civil dignitaries welcomed her with salutes, bows, gifts, and bouquets of flowers. “This [was] more than I expected,” Joey would admit later on.[8]
Advocacies and Adversaries: Confronting Tuberculosis and Leprosy
Like Olivia, Joey’s reaction to pomp and circumstance was also reflective of how she perceived public attention. But Joey was also aware that if she wanted to continue effecting changes in the lives and welfare of her fellow leper patients in the Philippines, being in the limelight was something that she would just have to get used to. Following the war, Joey strongly advocated for various initiatives to help alleviate the poor conditions of leprosariums in the country.[9] She was not wholly ecstatic that her humanitarian work would be reported in the news, but she also realised how being visible to the public remained an effective way of spreading awareness and information. In a letter addressed to a Jesuit Father in the Philippines (dated 1947, a year before her move to the United States), Joey wrote: “My one motive is known to you: to insure a better future for the leper, to give him a semblance of a normal community life. Simple. Yet, to attain such a simple object I [need] to subject myself to this what-cha-ma-call-it business: publicity. I do not like it the least bit, but as I said that is part of the sacrifice.” But when it came to the attention specifically from children, Joey’s heart considerably softened. She continues in the same letter: “It is really inspiring to think that they love me and think of me something of a great heroine, an angel, even, a saint. Oh, Father, I wish I were deserving of their innocent praises. How utterly unworthy I am of what their hearts feel!” [10]
Working in the service of others was also a priority for Olivia. Barely a week after she arrived back home in the Philippines, she became one of the charter members or incorporators of the Philippine Antituberculosis Society, which was organised to encourage the study and prevention of tuberculosis in the country.[11] Providing succour to the afflicted was not new to Olivia; rather it was something she had already contemplated on for quite a while. In a 1908 diary entry, she reflected on how one could live charitably, by asking herself guiding questions: “Have you fed the hungry? Have you comforted the afflicted? Have you cured the sick? […] Have you introduced joy where sorrow abides?”[12] Doors of opportunities have opened for Olivia in the Philippines, and she had successfully established herself both as a dedicated member of the medical community and a vocal feminist.[13] Unfortunately (and quite ironically), sorrow in the form of tuberculosis would soon come knocking on her door. In the same year of her journey back to the Philippines, Olivia would be diagnosed with the same disease she campaigned against.[14] She spent the next three years seeking treatment in hospitals,[15] and though the occasional bouts of despondency would overcome her,[16] she remained hopeful that she would fully recover.
In 1911, Olivia took part in an experimental antituberculosis treatment using tuberculin. In her diary, she expressed both the excitement of an optimistic patient, and the scepticism of a careful physician: “If tuberculin proves effective in the care of TB by the experiment made on me, I would feel as if I have rendered a public service to humanity. Should it fail (there is no occasion for such thought, for I would know in time whether it is doing me good or not) then I shall be glad also for it would save many from its dangers.”[17] Similarly, Joey also nursed a firm belief that a cure to her disease would be discovered. The ongoing anti-leprosy treatments in Carville, Louisiana, were primary motivators for her to consider moving to the United States. “I have faith in the American doctors—and God.” Joey would later confirm to an American newspaper. “If they can’t cure me, that’s that.” Joey continues. “But I’m going to make sure the trip isn’t wasted.” She had decided to move away, but she clearly never forgot her roots. Tucked away in her luggage was a typewriter, which she used to continue writing articles, to raise both money and awareness for the plight of Filipino lepers. [18]
Lives Lived: The Legacies of Olivia and Joey
I began the account of the of these two Filipina heroes, at the respective ends of their journeys homeward. To conclude, it seems fitting we close our story at the respective ends of their journeys in life. Olivia passed away on July 11, 1913, at a very young age of 24-years old.[20] In contrast, Joey lived longer and died on June 18, 1996, at the age of 78-years old.[21] But if we could learn anything more about “life” from these two women, it is for us to live it “fully”. As I see it, the number of years lived does not determine a life lived fully. How one chooses to make the most of their ephemeral stay on this earth, also matters. By living their own lives for the sake of others, and by being paragons of strength albeit being physically weak, both Olivia and Joey bravely dealt with their cards, with clear intentions of not folding to fear or uncertainty, nor conceding to the stigma or shame linked to their diseases. The histories of tuberculosis and leprosy in the Philippines, are often written in the dark inks of pain and despair. But by refocusing to the lives of empowered Filipino women such as Olivia and Joey, and their advocacies against diseases, one learns to appreciate how their legacies continue to inspire generations, and how histories could indeed be rewritten.
Allow me to leave you with an excerpt from Olivia’s diary, dated August 18, 1911. She wrote this while seeking treatment in a hospital: “A nature, such as mine is, ambitious to an extreme, cannot, will not accept unwarranted and unjustifiable limitation. Physically disabled as I am, I do not allow my ailments to interfere with my intellectual activities. My life was meant to be a busy life and my mind a busy mind, so regardless of place or circumstances, there shall be something for me to do.” [22]
This essay is affectionately dedicated to all Filipino women.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Mr. Alvin D. Cabalquinto, of the Department of History, Ateneo de Manila University, for advising me to look into Olivia Salamanca’s 1908 diary, and for personally showing me the exact site of Olivia’s historical marker and plaza in Manila. My warmest thanks to Dr. Kristine Michelle L. Santos and Mr. Larry Balderas, of the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings (ALiWW), for accommodating my request to peruse the diary, and to access ALiWW’s bountiful collections. I am also very grateful to Fr. Rene B. Javellana, S.J., for allowing my research at the Archives of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus (APP-SJ), where I fortuitously came across personal letters from Joey Guerrero to Jesuit Fathers.
Maraming salamat.
[1] Photo credits: Encarnacion Alzona. “The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D., 1889-1913.” NAST Transactions 3 (1981):28-42; Lea Schram von Haupt. “From Outcast to Spy to Outcast: The War Hero with Hansen’s Disease.” National WWI Museum New Orleans, May 15, 2020. Accessed March 15, 2026. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/philippines-spy-joey-guerrero
[2] In 1915, a plaza in Manila was dedicated to Olivia Salamanca, in remembrance and honor of her service to fellow Filipinos. It is worth pointing out how, during the dedicatory address for this plaza, Olivia’s homecoming in 1910 was fondly remembered: “I remember that when, coming from America with her diploma of doctor of medicine obtained with high honors, she appeared on the deck of a foreign vessel, dressed in light Filipina costume, entirely different from the women around her. Looking at her then one could observe that even though she gathered from foreign countries science and knowledge, yet she kept alive in her heart the sentiments of her people.” “Salamanca Plaza Dedicated To A Filipina Heroine.” The Cablenews-American, October 3, 1915, p.14; Encarnacion Alzona. “The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D., 1889-1913.” NAST Transactions 3 (1981):28-29.
[3] Alzona, “The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D., 1889-1913”, 29-32.
[4] Excerpts from Olivia Salamanca’s 1908 Diary, p. 331. Box 69, Encarnacion Alzona Collection, Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings (ALiWW), Ateneo de Manila University.
[5] In his book The Leper Spy, Ben Montgomery offered an expressive description of Joey’s wartime valor: “She walked through the roar of war like an angel of mercy, unafraid, bullets biting the ground at her feet. American soldiers, huddled behind walls or crouched in foxholes, marveled as she walked upright while bombs burst around her. “You are tired,” she would say to the soldiers. “Stay here and rest.” Ben Montgomery. The Leper Spy: The Story of an Unlikely Hero of World War II (Chicago Review Press, 2017), 99.
[6] “Bars Lets Down for Leprosy Case from Philippine Islands.” The Daily Alaska Empire, June 10, 1948, p.5; “Filipino Heroine Ready For Trip to Leper Colony.” Evening Star, June 17, 1948, p.3; “Philippine Heroine Arrives in US for Strange Award.” Evening Star, July 11, 1948, p.8; “War Heroine From Philippine Enters Louisiana Leprosarium.” Evening Star, July 12, 1948, p.8; Francine Uenuma. “This Filipina Spy Used Her Leprosy as a Cover to Thwart the Japanese During World War II.” Smithsonian Magazine, May 1, 2024. Accessed March 15, 2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-filipina-spy-used-her-leprosy-as-a-cover-to-thwart-the-japanese-during-world-war-ii-180984226/.
[7] Lea Schram von Haupt. “From Outcast to Spy to Outcast: The War Hero with Hansen’s Disease.” National WWI Museum New Orleans, May 15, 2020. Accessed March 15, 2026. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/philippines-spy-joey-guerrero; Christopher Perreira. “Memory, Memoir, and the Carville Leprosarium.” In Archiving Medical Violence: Consent and the Carceral State (University of Minnesota Press, 2023):82-83.
[8] “Philippine Heroine Arrives in US for Strange Award.” Evening Star, July 11, 1948, p.8.
[9] Letter from Joey Guerrero, August 11, 1946. VI-6-253, Archives of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus (APP-SJ), Ateneo de Manila University.
[10] Letter from Joey Guerrero, January 24, 1947. VI-6-253, Archives of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus (APP-SJ), Ateneo de Manila University; “Joey’s Patron Explains the Case.” Evening Star, July 30, 1948.
[11] “Mrs. Egan Heads Tuberculosis Society.” The Cablenews-American, July 30, 1910, p. 1, 5; Alzona, “The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D., 1889-1913”, 33.
[12] Excerpts from Olivia Salamanca’s 1908 Diary, p.279, 281. Box 69, Encarnacion Alzona Collection, Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings (ALiWW), Ateneo de Manila University.
[13] In 1911, Olivia wrote a letter to a correspondent, to air out her critical remarks on how women were portrayed: “Do not take one woman or two as a type of all women. […] The seeming inevitable passive attitude within which society (the men) has limited woman’s sphere of action is to be blamed for it. She is not permitted to take the initiative in most matters, not even in matters pertaining to her heart. Society seems to have placed her so high and she is condemned unmercifully when she falls. Society has placed so much personal responsibility upon her, but provided her with very little justice.” Alzona, “The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D., 1889-1913”,39-40.
[14] Coincidentally, when she was just a child, Joey was also diagnosed with tuberculosis. She would later on recover from this disease. Montgomery, The Leper Spy: The Story of an Unlikely Hero of World War, 21.
[15] Alzona, “The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D., 1889-1913”, 33-36.
[16] On August 18, 1911, Olivia wrote in her diary: “I am sorry to be as cynical as I appear, but I cannot help it. It seems to me that I have not had the sympathy and the cooperation I ought to have. Since the beginning, you all seem to be ready to condemn, to blame and to provoke me, rather than to encourage and give me hope. I have been alone—as far as my family is concerned—in my battle for life. He [perhaps referring to God] alone has sympathized, has encouraged and helped me in my misfortune. Do they think for a moment, I wonder, that I am satisfied to be thus deprived of my chances for success, accomplishment and work? Little do they know and realize my heartache, my despair at being handicapped.” Alzona, “The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D., 1889-1913”, 35.
[17] Alzona, “The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D., 1889-1913”, 36.
[18] “US Girl Spy Comes Back As Honored Leper.” Roanoke Rapids Herald, July 20, 1948, p. 2.
[19] Photo credits: Francine Uenuma. “This Filipina Spy Used Her Leprosy as a Cover to Thwart the Japanese During World War II.” Smithsonian Magazine, May 1, 2024. Accessed March 15, 2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-filipina-spy-used-her-leprosy-as-a-cover-to-thwart-the-japanese-during-world-war-ii-180984226/.
[20] “Dr. Salamanca Dead.” The Cablenews-American, July 13, 1913, p.1; Alzona, “The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D., 1889-1913”, 40.
[21] Montgomery, The Leper Spy: The Story of an Unlikely Hero of World War, 221.
[22] Alzona, “The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D., 1889-1913”, 35.