Josefina Guerrero

Josefina "Joey" Guerero, orginally from Lucban, Quezon, was a Filipina spy during World War II. Guerrero had Hansen's disease (leprosy) and being a woman of color and a leper in the highly prejudiced time of the 1940s, she became an effective surveillance asset. At 24 years odl, she reached out to the guerilla forces and did all she could help the war effort-which meant passing through Japanese checkpoints carrying messages. And this was where her disease became an advantage, as the soldiers usually left her alone for fear of being infected.