Meet the First Visayan Philippine President

CEBU, Philippines - The Province of Cebu will be commemorating the 134th birth anniversary of former Philippine President Sergio Suico Osmeña, Sr. on September 9, 2012.

FAST FACTS:

•             He was the oldest Philippine president to hold office at 65 years old

•             He was our fourth president (1944 to 1946)

•             Born on September 9, 1878. He studied at then Colegio de San Carlos. He graduated in 1892. He went to Manila to study at the San Juan de Letran College where the young Manuel Luis Quezon was also studying. They became classmates.

•             He was Governor of Cebu (1901 to 1907)

•             He then became a member of the House of Representatives from 1907 to 1922. He was Speaker of the House.

•             He served as a Senator for 13 years and became Senate President.

•             In 1935, he was nominated to become the running mate of then Senate President Manuel Luis Quezon for the presidential election that year. They won. But later on, President  Quezon suffered from tuberculosis and died. Osmeña rose to the Presidency of the Commonwealth in 1944. This fact later turned very controversial: he wasn’t an “authentic president” because he was not elected by the people to office. And that it was President Carlos Polistico Garcia (eighth President of the Philippines, fourth president of the Third Republic) from Talibon, Bohol who was the “real first Visayan President.”

•             He studied law at the University of Santo Tomas

•             Placed Second in the Bar Examination in 1903

•             As he was more of a writer/journalist, he founded El Nuevo Dia (New Day) in 1900 here in Cebu. The newspaper lasted for three years.