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Maria Ylagan Orosa

Black and white photo. A Filipino woman and man seated next to each other, looking into the camera. She is on the left, wearing a hat, dark top with a wide white collar. He is wearing a grey suit, collared shirt, tie, jacket, and a pocket square.
Maria Orosa and her brother Jose at the University of Washington Seattle Campus, 1919.

Photo courtesy of the Orosa family (orosa.org).

For many, Maria Ylagan Orosa’s contributions both before and during World War II are unknown. Those that have heard of her most often know Maria as the inventor of banana ketchup. But her impact on Philippine life and her heroism on the home front in World War II are so much larger.

María Ylagan Orosa was born on November 29, 1893 in Taal, Province of Batangas, on the Philippine island of Luzon. She was one of seven children of her parents, Simplicio Orosa and Juliana Ylagan. At the time, the Philippines was a Spanish colony.[1] As a child, Maria lived through the Philippine Revolution. She was just six years old when the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Spanish American War.

As part of the treaty, the Philippines was transferred to the jurisdiction of the United States. President McKinley issued a “proclamation of benevolent assimilation” and established a military governorship – despite the fact that the Philippines had issued a declaration of independence and established their own First Philippine Republic. Filipinos had initially seen their relationship with the United States as fighting a common foe (Spain). But with the handover of the Philippines to the United States, the Philippine President condemned the “violent and aggressive seizure” and threatened war.[2]

The Philippine-American War broke out in early 1899 when American soldiers killed three Filipino soldiers. During the war, which lasted until the Philippine Organic Act was signed in June 1902, Maria’s father Simplicio was part of the resistance against the Americans. He used his ship to transport soldiers and materials among the Philippine islands.[3] The experience of growing up during these battles for Filipino identity and watching her father fight for the Philippines shaped Maria’s life.[4]

Black and white photo of a large campus building with columns and three floors of windows. The entrance is flanked by trees and approached by a large set of steps.
Architecture Hall at the University of Washington, Seattle. Built as the Fine Arts Pavilion for the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, it was later known as the “Chem Shack.” It housed the chemistry and pharmacy classrooms and labs that Maria would have been familiar with.

Photo from Corley 1969.

After briefly studying at the University of the Philippines, Maria made her way to the US mainland in 1916. At 23, she enrolled at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in chemistry and pharmaceutical science. In school, Maria worked in the School of Pharmacy’s food lab where she tested products to make sure they met government safety standards. In the summers, she traveled to Alaska to work in the fish canneries, learning on the job about industrial-scale canning and preserving.[5]

Maria graduated in 1921, and after declining a job offer from Washington State, returned to the Philippines in 1922. When she returned, she got jobs with the Food Preservation Division of the Philippine Bureau of Science and at the Centro Escolar University. For three years beginning in 1926, she traveled through China, Japan, and Hawai’i visiting over 50 canneries. When she returned, she was made chief of the Food Preservation Division and then of the Home Economics Division. By 1934, Maria was head of the Plant Utilization Division of the Philippine Government’s Bureau of Plant Industry.[6]

Maria used her position and what she learned at the University of Washington and through experience to create ways of using and preserving local foods, instead of having to rely on imports. She was inspired to meet or exceed the amount and quality of imported products as a way of freeing Filipinos from foreign control.[7] Home canning was mostly unheard of in 1920s Philippines. That began to change at the 1925 Carnival in Manila. There, Maria displayed a range of canned and preserved local foods, including a whole canned mango.[8] Among her almost 700 innovations and recipes are Soyalac (a drink made from soya beans); flour made from cassava, green bananas, and coconuts; darak (a rice flour high in Vitamin B-1); a recipe for fish balls that tasted like corned beef; and banana ketchup.[9]

Tomato ketchup was introduced to the Philippines after the Spanish American War, and it became popular. But like other imported goods, it was expensive. And it couldn’t be produced on site, because the climate was no good for growing tomatoes. In the 1930s, Maria created a ketchup made with bananas instead of tomatoes. Banana ketchup, now made and bottled by large corporations, has become a staple at Filipino meals.[10]

Black and white photo of two rows of Filipino women. The front row is seated; the back row is standing. They are all looking towards the camera. All women are wearing long patterned shirts and tops.
Maria Orosa (front, center) with a group of her trainees.

Photo courtesy the Orosa family (orosa.org).

As well as her work in her laboratory to improve the lives of Filipinos, Maria helped people in their home communities.[11] Early in her career, she formed the Health-Heart-Head-Hand (4-H) club for rural improvement. Patterned after the mainland American 4H club, by 1924, it had 22,000 members. Maria also founded the Home Extension Service.

Through this organization, she and hundreds of demonstrators went into communities across the Philippines, teaching women new ways of food preparation and preservation, and how to grow their own gardens and raise their own chickens. When World War II began, extension workers shifted to teaching about food substitutes and cooking in emergency situations.[12]

Maria also invented the Palayok Oven. This adaptation of the Palayok, already in use, made it possible to bake foods like cakes made from nutritious local flours over a fire (when electricity was not available) or if imported ingredients were not available. It also freed people from paying expensive import prices for low-quality baked goods.[13]

A small, rectangular white paper package printed with the American and Philippine flags. Printed in red: “I shall return.” Below, in blue: the signature of General MacArthur, and “General Douglas MacArthur, Commander in Chief, Southwest Pacific Theater.”
“I shall return” cigarettes. Starting in 1943, items like these cigarettes were distributed by submarine and air to Filipino resistance forces to raise morale. The cigarettes were made by the Larus & Brothers Tobacco Company in Richmond, Virginia (Cigarette Pack Collectors’ Association 2008).

Photo courtesy of the Cigarette Pack Collectors’ Association.

When the Japanese attack began on the Philippines just a few short hours after Pearl Harbor, Maria’s family evacuated to their homes in Batangas Province. Despite their pleas, Maria stayed in Manila to feed those who could not leave. “My place is here,” she said, “I cannot in conscience abandon my work and my girls.”[14] The last time Maria’s niece Helen saw her, Maria gave her a pack of cigarettes and told her to be hopeful.[15] On the package were the words “I shall return,” the promise of General Douglas MacArthur to the Philippine people when American forces withdrew under the Japanese onslaught.[16]

Under Japanese occupation, Maria followed in her father’s footsteps, and became part of the resistance. In her lab, she and 400 of her students prepared nutrient-dense rations. This kept these women working and fed while they were trapped in Manila by the war.[17] Maria and her team also provided others with food – including smuggling it to prisoners in the Santo Tomas Internment Camp. Located on the campus of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, the camp held over 4,000 prisoners, most of whom were American.[18] Her decades of work to create local foods instead of reliance on imports went a long way to helping Filipinos survive the war.[19]

Maria and her staff worked throughout the occupation. On February 3 of 1945, the Battle of Manila began, with MacArthur and the American forces fighting to retake the city from the Japanese. Maria Orosa was working in her lab (as usual) when a round of artillery shelling began. On the way to a bomb shelter with her staff, Maria was hit by shrapnel. Despite the danger from the ongoing attack, one of Maria’s colleagues found a pushcart and took Maria to Remedios Hospital. The hospital was originally organized by the Philippine Red Cross in the Malate Catholic School, but it quickly ran out of funds and was being run by volunteers.[20] Shortly after her arrival, on February 13, 1945, she and over 400 others were killed when an American bomb landed on the hospital. Burial for Maria and the others had to wait, as the Japanese were shooting anyone in the streets. She and the others were buried in a mass grave several days later.[21]

Square metal medal (possibly brass) engraved in a script font.
Service medal awarded by the American National Red Cross to Maria Orosa after her death. The text reads: “To Maria Y. Orosa / For Service. / The American National Red Cross.”

Courtesy of the Orosa family (orosa.org).

Maria has received several honors for her work, including having a street in Manila named for her. Statues of her grace the Office of the Municipal Mayor in her home town of Taal and at the Bureau of Plant Industry in Manila. After her death, she was also awarded a medal for her service by the American National Red Cross.

In February 2020, archaeologists from the University of the Philippines were excavating a tomb behind what had been Remedios Hospital. Built in the 1950s, it contained the remains of 12 volunteers who kept Remedios Hospital running and who were killed when the hospital was bombed. During the excavations, archaeologists were surprised to find a stone engraved, “MARIA Y. OROSA / NOV. 29 1892 – FEB. 13 1945 / DIED IN LINE OF DUTY.”[22] Excavation showed that the stone is a memorial and does not mark Maria’s final resting place. Archaeologists think they know which mass grave her remains may be in, but the mystery remains unsolved.[23]

This article was written by Megan E. Springate, Assistant Research Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland, for the NPS Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education. It was funded by the National Council on Public History's cooperative agreement with the National Park Service.

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Last updated: November 16, 2023