A province and a city were named after him, a university in the metro also carries his name, and some barangays in our province derived its name from this man. This man’s life, story and rose to power will also be the focus of the highly anticipated biofilm of Jerrold Tarog – the brain behind Heneral Luna and Goyo.
Prior to the release of such film, and before Catandunganon audience will be swooned with his wit and charisma thru Jericho Rosales, the actor portraying Quezon in said film, let us have a little discussion as to who this man is and what was his contributions to our country.
Born in Baler on August 19, 1878 to primary school teachers Lucio Quezon and Maria Dolores Molina, no one thought that this young mestizo will play a major part in our history and will hold the highest post in government.
He studied at the Collegio de San Juan de Letran and pursued law at the University of Sto. Tomas. However, by reason of the Filipino-American War at that time, he was forced to halt his studies and joined the military. He served as a major and an aide-de-camp to his future rival, then President Emilio Aguinaldo. He later on continued his law pursuit and was hailed as 4th placer during the 1903 Philippine Bar Examination.
After passing the bar, he began his career and made a name in the political sphere. In 1905, he became a Fiscal in Mindoro, and the Governor of Tayabas in 1906. Then in 1907, he was elected as member of the Philippine Assembly where he served as majority floor leader and chairman of committee on appropriations. Thereafter, he was appointed as resident commissioner to represent the Philippines in Washington D.C. from 1909 to 1916. His most notable achievement as resident commissioner was the passage of Jones Law.
Jones Law, otherwise known as the Philippine Autonomy Act was signed into law on August 29, 1916 and superseded the Philippine Organic Act of 1902. The said act granted more autonomy to the Philippines and allowed a fully elected bicameral legislature. Pursuant thereto, an election was held on October 3, 1916 and Quezon was elected as senator. He served as senator from 1916 to 1935 making him the second longest continuous serving senator in history.
Then came 1934 and the passage of the Tydings-McDuffie or the Philippine Independence Law that provide for a ten (10) year transition period for our country’s ultimate independence. Said law gave birth to the 1935 Philippine Constitution which created a presidential form of government. The first presidential election under the 1935 Philippine Constitution was between Manuel L. Quezon and our country’s first recognized president, Emilio Aguinaldo. It has been said that one of the tactics employed by Quezon in order to demolish Aguinaldo’s hope to the presidency was to unearth the remains of the Supremo and revived the controversy that it was Aguinaldo who ordered the execution of Andres Bonifacio.
Manuel L. Quezon won the said election with a big margin – he garnered 695,332 votes as compared to Aguinaldo 179, 349. With his inauguration on November 15, 1935, he became the second President of the Philippines and the first President of the Commonwealth Government.
One of the notable legislation that was passed during Quezon’s first term as president was the Women’s Suffrage Bill that grants the right of suffrage, or the right to vote and be voted upon to Filipino women. In his famous speech during its signing, Quezon asked: “I once more ask our men: Are you going to deprive our women of the opportunity to say how their lives are going to be regulated, and is it fair for us to presume that men can always speak in this country for women?”
Another one is the establishment of National Institute of Language and the pronouncement of Executive Order No. 134 proclaiming the national language of the Philippines based on the Tagalog Language. Perhaps the reason why President Manuel L. Quezon was hailed as “Ama ng Wikang Pambansa”.
In addition to that, Quezon appointed several legal heavy weights to the Supreme Court namely – Justice Claro M. Recto, Jose P. Laurel and Jose Abad Santos.
In 1941, Quezon was reelected for a second term. However, on December 8, 1941, just hours after the Pearl Harbor Attack, the Japanese-American war broke out on Philippine soil. By reason of Japanese Invasion of the Philippines, Quezon was forced to leave the country and went to the United States. While in exile, Quezon still made actions in order to send help to his country. He continued to lead the Commonwealth government and to communicate with his cabinet members.
Quezon’s ultimate dream was to witness the Philippines to become totally free and have a government with full independence and autonomy. “I’d rather have a government run like hell by Filipino than a government run like heaven by Americans.” This line of President Quezon had been engraved in hundreds of his memorials found all around the country.
Unfortunately, having the same faith as Martin Luther King Jr, he was not able to see the Promised Land. In the morning of August 1, 1944, just two years shy from our final liberation, President Manuel L. Quezon succumbed to death due to tuberculosis at the age of 65.