Remembering MLQ

Today, a non-working holiday in Quezon City, is the 145th birth anniversary of one of the Philippines' greatest presidents, Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina. Born on August 19, 1878, Quezon was younger than Dr. Jose Rizal by 17 years. MLQ was already 18 when Rizal was executed.

MLQ was the second president of our country, after Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo. He was a close friend of Cebu's grand old man Don Sergio Osmeña, and kingpin of the House of Representatives for the longest time. MLQ was the uncontested leader of the Senate until he was elected president under the 1935 Philippine Constitution and Osmeña, the vice president. The two were classmates in UST and took the Bar together in 1903. Osmeña placed second while Quezon got fourth. There were less than 20 who took that exam.

MLQ is best remembered for his fiery speeches, in one of which, he dared to tell the US Congress: "I prefer a government run like hell by Filipinos to a government run like heaven by the Americans." He is also associated with that famous quote "My loyalty to my part ends where my loyalty to my country begins." He didn’t have a booming voice, in fact he sounded squeaky, but his speeches were eloquent and fiery. His favorite advocacies were social justice, land for the landless, and love of our national language.

MLQ was born in Baler, now capital of Aurora, but at that time part of Nueva Ecija and later of the old province of Tayabas, later renamed Quezon Province. His father Lucio, a retired guardia civil and later a teacher, was a Chinese mestizo while his mother, Maria was Spanish mestiza, also a primary school teacher. MLQ studied in San Juan de Letran where he met Sergio Osmeña Sr. The two became close allies and transferred to UST together.

During the Revolution, MLQ became an aide-de-camp to Aguinaldo. Later, he became a land surveyor and then ran for Congress and won in 1907. He was elected as resident commissioner in 1909 and had to reside in the U.S. to represent the Philippines. He served two terms as such until 1916 when he was elected senator representing the fifth senatorial district. He was elected Senate president and served for 19 years until 1935 when he ran for president.

In 1919, Quezon headed the first Philippine Independence Mission to the U.S. Through his efforts, the U.S. Congress passed the Tydings-McDuffie Act 1n 1934. Earlier in 1922, Quezon and Osmeña had a falling out. But later, the two reunited. Quezon was elected Senate president and Osmeña Senate president pro tempore. In 1933, the two split again on the issue of the passage of the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Law. Quezon's faction won again over Osmeña.

In the 1935 elections, MLQ got 695,332 votes over Emilio Aguinaldo's 179,349, while two others got the remaining votes. For vice president, Osmeña got 812,352. His opponent, Raymundo Meliza got only 70,899. Both of them ran for reelection in 1941 just before World War II. MLQ got a whopping 1,340,320 over the late president Cory Aquino's grandfather, Juan Sumulong, who got only 298,608. There were six other candidates. Osmeña garnered more votes than MLQ again with 1,445,897 over Emilio Javier who only managed to get 124,035. There were three other aspirants.

MLQ's decision to welcome the Jews to the Philippines during his presidency is the reason why Filipinos don’t need a visa to visit Israel. The Philippines' is Israel's best friend next to the USA and one of the principal sponsors in the UN for the creation of the State of Israel.

Quezon married his first-degree cousin, Aurora Aragon. They had four children but none followed his political footsteps. Aurora is now the name of the province where Quezon was born and Tayabas renamed Quezon. Quezon City was a capital he envisioned and built. Many towns and villages in the Philippines as well as streets and highways have been named in his honor. There is even one university, MLQU.

MLQ is one of our best presidents, competent, committed, conscientious, and honest. His only weakness is his love for women and his propensity to utter expletives and unprintables in Spanish and English. He had a bad temper but never held grudges. He died of tuberculosis in Saranac Lake, New York, on August 1, 1944 at 65. He could have done more for our country had he lived as long as Don Sergio Osmeña Sr., his old friend and ally.