military politician president statesman
Quezon, was born on August 19, 1878 in Baler in the district of El Príncipe (now Baler, Aurora). His parents were Lucio Quezon (died 1898) and María Dolores Molina (June 7, 1840 – 1893), both of whom were Spanish-Mestizos with distant ethnic Tagalog origins. His father was a primary grade school teacher from Paco, Manila and a retired Sergeant of the Spanish colonial army, while his mother was a primary grade school teacher in their hometown.
After the age of seven he lived with and was taught by the parish priest of Baler.
He attended the college of San Juan de Letran, in Manila.
At the Law School of the University of Santo Tomás, Tomas, also in Manila, he met Sergio Osmeña, Osmena, a young man who shared his yearning for Philippine independence.
Quezon's law studies were interrupted when he joined the insurrection movement of General Emilio Aguinaldo, rising to the rank of major.
After Aguinaldo's surrender, Quezon swore allegiance to the territorial administration, passed the bar examination, and was admitted to practice in 1903. He became provincial prosecutor of Mindoro and later of Tayabas Province.
In 1906 he was elected governor of Tayabas.
From 1909 to 1916 Quezon was resident commissioner to the United States and was largely responsible for the Philippine Autonomy Act (Jones Law), passed by Congress in 1916. This gave autonomous powers to the Filipinos and provided for a bicameral Philippine legislature patterned after the United States Congress.
He returned to the Philippines and was elected to its senate. His colleagues then named him president of the senate, a position which he retained until he was elected the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth, September 17, 1935. Quezon was reelected president in 1941.
After the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1942, during World War II, he was evacuated from Corregidor to Australia and then to the United States, where he continued to work for the welfare of his countrymen in Washington, the seat of the Philippine government-in-exile.
Before leaving Corregidor, Quezon, who had been a semi-invalid for years from the effects of tuberculosis, was forced to use a wheelchair. Later his health improved, but in 1943 and 1944 he had to delegate more and more of his duties to Vice-President Osmeña. Osmena.
Finally he was hospitalized at Saranac, New York, where he died on August 1, 1944. His body was temporarily placed in Arlington National Cemetery but in 1946 was removed to the Philippines.
He was the first Filipino to head a government of the entire Philippines (as opposed to the government of previous Philippine states), and is considered to have been the second president of the Philippines, after Emilio Aguinaldo.
Quezon was an astute politician and recognized leader of his country, receiving his strongest support from the masses. He was a keen observer and a shrewd analyst of political trends. These qualities, together with tremendous energy, helped him to win the leadership of the Nacionalista Party from its founder, Osmena.
In 1907 he was elected to the Philippine assembly and joined the Nacionalista Party, then led by Osmeñ a. Osmena. From 1909 to 1916 Quezon was resident commissioner to the United States and was largely responsible for the Philippine Autonomy Act (Jones Law), passed by Congress in 1916.
He was a member of the Philippine Assembly from Tayabas' 1st District.
Quezon was married to his first cousin, Aurora Aragón Quezon, on December 17, 1918. The couple had four children: María Aurora "Baby" Quezon (1919–1949), María Zeneida "Nini" Quezon-Avancena (born 1921), Luisa Corazón Paz "Nenita" Quezon (died 1923) and Manuel L. "Nonong" Quezon, Jr. (1926–1998).
