Manuel L Quezon
Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina (pronounced /késon/; Baler, August 19, 1878-Saranac Lake, New York, August 1, 1944) was a lawyer, soldier, politician and Filipino statesman, who rose to prominence in Philippine politics, being the first president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines; position that he held from November 15, 1935 until his death, on August 1, 1944. On December 31, 1941 he had been reelected to the position. He is considered the second president of the Philippines, after Emilio Aguinaldo, whose administration did not receive international recognition.
Of mixed-race descent, Manuel Quezon began his path towards public life, by participating in the independence process of the Philippines, on the side of the United States, serving as a military and public official, after which he rose to the top in a political career that it eventually led him to become the Philippine House of Representatives Parliamentary Majority Leader, later a Senator and President of the Philippine Senate, as well as the first person to hold such office, as well as a Resident Commissioner of the Philippines.
His political career and prestige ended up leading him to the presidency of the Philippine Commonwealth, holding it for nine years, during which he focused on consolidating the Philippines as a nation, decreeing the reorganization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, approving a process government reorganization, boosting trade in the Philippines through treaties and economic measures, in addition to proposing land reform and carrying out a fight against corruption and trying to fortify the country's institutions.
After the Japanese invasion of the Philippines during World War II, Quezon established a government-in-exile, located in the United States, from where it fought and tried to lobby for the necessary international support to confront the Japanese, not however; he died of tuberculosis in New York, before seeing his homeland liberated. In an ironic twist of history, it would be General Douglas MacArthur, who was Quezon's appointed advisor for the reorganization of the Philippine Army in 1936, who would achieve the liberation of the Philippines during World War II.
In 2015, the Board of Directors of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation approved the posthumous delivery of the Wallenberg Medal to President Quezon and the people of the Philippines for having helped the victims of the Holocaust between 1937 and 1941. President Benigno Aquino III, and María Zeneida Quezon Avanceña, 94-year-old daughter of the former president, were duly informed about this recognition.
Biography
Youth
He was born in Baler, in the province of Tayabas —present-day Aurora—. He fought on the side of Filipino nationalists in the Philippine-American War, as an aide to President Emilio Aguinaldo. His mother was a Spanish mestizo, while his father, Lucio, was a mestizo of Chinese origin who became a sergeant in the colonial Civil Guard.
Although his mother must have influenced his education, Quezon himself testified, he received his primary education mainly through the school established in his town, which was part of the free public education system that the Spanish government had established in Philippines, and of which his father was a teacher. He later enrolled as a boarder at the Colegio de San Juan de Letrán, where he finished his secondary education. He then began law studies at the University of Santo Tomás; he received his license as a lawyer in 1903.
In 1898, his father Lucio and his brother Pedro were ambushed and killed by armed men while returning from Baler to Nueva Écija. Some historians believe they were killed by bandits who stole their money, while others believe the murders may have been related to their loyalty to the Spanish government.
He worked for about two years in administration and surveying; He began his career as a civil servant by being appointed prosecutor first in Mindoro and then in Tayabas. He subsequently obtained a position as councillor; in 1906 he was elected governor of Tayabas as an independent.
A staunch defender of Philippine independence, he spoke out against the US occupation. He was one of the most prominent figures in the creation of the nationalist party. In 1907 he was elected to the first Philippine Assembly, where he served as leader of the majority bloc and chairman of the purchasing committee. Between 1909 and 1916 he was commissioned to permanently represent the Philippines in the United States House of Representatives, charged with negotiating the so-called Jones Law of Home Rule.
Quezon married his cousin Aurora Aragón, with whom he had four children: María Aurora, María Zeneida, Luisa Corazón Paz and Manuel —son—. In 1916 he was elected senator, and appointed president of the House. He would hold that position until 1935. In 1919 he led the first independence mission to the United States Congress, and conducted the negotiations that resulted in the 1934 Tydings-McDuffie Independence Act. In the United States he personally knew Napoleon Hill.
Presidency
In 1935 Manuel Quezon won the first national presidential elections after independence, beating Emilio Aguinaldo and Bishop Gregorio Aglipay. Although the original terms called for a six-year term without the possibility of reelection, the Constitution was amended to allow him to extend one term, and in 1941 he was reelected. In 1937 he made a state visit to Mexico City, where he met with President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río.
In an act of remarkable humanity, Quezon, in cooperation with United States High Commissioner Paul V. McNutt, facilitated the entry into the Philippines of Jewish refugees fleeing fascist regimes in Europe, and promoted a project to settle the refugees in Mindanao.
Following the Japanese invasion of the Philippines during World War II, Quezon fled to the United States. There he served as a member of the Pacific War Council, in whose capacity he signed the United Nations declaration of war against the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis; in exile he wrote his autobiography, titled The Good Fight (1946).
Quezon contracted tuberculosis and died on the shores of Saranac Lake, New York state, on August 1, 1944. He was initially buried in Arlington National Cemetery; His body was taken after the end of the war by the USS Princeton (CV-37) for burial in the North Manila Cemetery, and then transferred to Quezon City at the Quezon Memorial Circle monument.
Quotes
- "I prefer a country ruled by Filipinos that is superbly administered by Americans. No matter how bad a government of Filipinos can be, we can always decide to change it."
- "The peoples of Latin America believe and feel that the Filipinos are part of that great family, the children of Spain. Thus, although Spain stopped governing countries many years ago and although another nation is sovereign in the Philippines, the peoples of Latin America feel as brothers to the people of the Philippines. It is the Spanish language, which still binds us to the peoples, and the Spanish language bind us to the peoples eternally if we have the wisdom and patriotism to preserve it."
- "My loyalty to my party ends where my loyalty to my country begins."
- "Social justice is much more beneficial when applied as a matter of feeling, and not of law."