Top 10 Interesting Facts about Manuel L. Quezon

Manuel L. Quezon photo by Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information – Wikimedia commons

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Manuel L. Quezon

Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina was born on19 August 1878. – Manuel died on1 August 1944. He is also known by his initials MLQ. He was a Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier, and politician who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until when he died in 1944.

He was the first Filipino to head the government of the entire Philippines. Manuel is considered to have been the second president of the Philippines, after Emilio Aguinaldo (1899–1901. In the article are the top ten interesting facts about Manuel L. Quezon.

1. He made numerous reforms when he was a president

A photo of Manuel L. Quezon portrait by Malacañang Palace – Wikimedia commons

It was when Manuel was in office that he helped peasants who had no land to get some. Quezon tackled the problem of landless peasants in the countryside. His other major decisions include the reorganization of the island’s military defense and approval of a recommendation for government reorganization.

He also initiated the promotion of settlement and development in Mindanao. The development was to deal with the foreign stranglehold on Philippine trade and commerce, proposals for land reform, and opposing graft and corruption within the government.

2. Quenzon’s father was a Chinese mestizo

A photo of Manuel Quezon by Harris & Ewing , photographer – Wikimedia commons

Quenzon’s father was called Lucio Quezon y Velez. Lucio died in 1898. Augusto de Viana, a historian, wrote in his timeline on the history of Baler, that Quezon’s father, Lucio, was a Chinese mestizo.

Augusto says that the father came from the Parián in Paco, Manila, though learned how to speak Spanish presumably during his time in the Spanish Guardia Civil and eventually married his mother.

Quezon’s mother was a Spanish mestiza born through a Spanish priest, Father Jose Urbina de Esparragosa, who arrived in Baler in 1847 to serve as the town’s parish priest.

3. He deferred his education and joined the independence movement

In 1899, Quezon left his law studies at the University of Santo Tomas to join the independence movement. During the Philippine–American War, he was an aide-de-camp to Emilio Aguinaldo.

He rose to the rank of Major and fought in the Bataan sector. However, after surrendering in 1900 wherein he made his first break in the American press, Quezon returned to the university and passed the bar examinations in 1903, achieving fourth place.

4. His first successful career in politics was in 1906

A photo of Manuel Quezon by arris & Ewing, photographer – Wikimedia commons

In 1906, Quezon was elected governor of Tayabas after a hard-fought election. This was after he had worked for a time as a clerk and surveyor. He later entered government service as an appointed fiscal (treasurer) for Mindoro and later Tayabas. He became a municipal councilor of Lucena and this was his last post before he became a governor.

5. He was elected into the House of Representatives in 1907

In 1907, he was elected as representative of Tayabas’s 1st district for the first Philippine Assembly (which became the House of Representatives). Quezon served as majority floor leader and chairman of the committee on rules as well as the chairman also of the committee on appropriations.

From 1909 -16, he served as one of the Philippines’ two resident commissioners to the U.S. House of Representatives, lobbying for the passage of the Philippine Autonomy Act or Jones Law.

6. Quezon was elected as a senator in 1916

A photo of Manuel Quezon by Miscellaneous Items in High Demand, PPOC, Library of Congress
– Wikimedia commons

In 1916, Quezon returned to Manila after serving as one of the Philippines’ two resident commissioners to the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected senator of the Fifth Senatorial District. He was later elected Senate President by his peers, serving continuously until 1935 (19 consecutive years), the longest serving in history.

However, his younger province-mate from Tayabas, Senator Lorenzo Tañada broke the record for twenty-four consecutive terms (from 1947 to 1972). He headed the first Independent Mission to the U.S. Congress in 1919 and secured the passage of the Tydings–McDuffie Act in 1934.

7. Quezon become the second president of the Philippines

In 1922, Quezon became the leader of the Nacionalista Party alliance Partido Nacionalista-Colectivista. In 1935, Quezon won the Philippines’ first national presidential election under the banner of the Nacionalista Party.

He obtained nearly 68% of the vote against his two main rivals, Emilio Aguinaldo and Gregorio Aglipay. Quezon was inaugurated in November 1935. This was his first term as president.

8. Quezon initiated the formation of government bodies

A photo of Manuel Quezon’s visit to Shanghai, China by an Unknown author- Wikimedia commons

Before he assumed office, President Quezon had pledged for “More Government and fewer politics” so as meet the demands of the newly established government set-up and in compliance with the provisions of the Tydings-McDuffie Act as well as the requirements of the Constitution.

To be exclusive, Quezon kept his work on government formation. To this effect, he established the Government Survey Board to study the existing institutions and in the light of the changed circumstances, make the necessary recommendations.

9. President Quezon initiated women’s suffrage in the Philippines

It was during the Commonwealth when President Quezon initiated women’s suffrage in the Philippines Era. The Constitution finally provided that the issue be resolved by the women themselves in a plebiscite. This was because of the prolonged debate between the proponents of women’s suffrage and their opponents.

10. Quezon was married to his first cousin

A photo of the statue of Manuel L. Quezon by Julan Shirwod Nueva – Wikimedia commons

Aurora Aragón Quezon was the first cousin to Quezon. She was born on 17 December 1918. The couple had four children: María Aurora “Baby” Quezon (23 September 1919 – 28 April 1949), María Zenaida “Nini” Quezon-Avanceña (9 April 1921 – 12 July 2021), Luisa Corazón Paz “Nenita” Quezon (17 February – 14 December 1924) and Manuel L. “Nonong” Quezon, Jr. (23 June 1926 – 18 September 1998).

Manuel L. Quezon left a legacy and is internationally reputed as the father of reforms and citizen welfare keeper in the Philippines. Quezon died of tuberculosis at Saranac Lake, New York during his exile. He was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery until the end of World War II when his remains were moved to Manila.