Manuel Quezon

First President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, who led the country toward independence.

Life

Lawyer

Quezon was a lawyer by training who fought in the war against the United States and later entered parliamentary politics. He served for many years as President of the Philippine Senate and lobbied in the United States for Philippine independence.

Commonwealth President

In 1934 the US Congress passed a law providing for Philippine independence after ten years. When the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established in 1935, he was elected its first President; he carried out social reforms and made Tagalog the basis of the national language.

Exile

When Japanese forces occupied the Philippines in 1942, he led a government in exile to the United States. He died of tuberculosis in New York in 1944, without living to see Philippine independence.

Legacy

Quezon is called the "Father of the National Language" of the Philippines; Quezon City near Manila, named after him, was once the Philippine capital.

Did you know? Before World War II he took in more than a thousand Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany.

Key dates

• 1916President of the Senate
• 1935Elected Commonwealth President
• 1937Promotes the establishment of a national language
• 1942Leads the government-in-exile to the United States
• 1944Died in the United States