Manuel L. Quezon

Manuel L. Quezon

Manuel Luis Quezón y Molina (August 19, 1878 – August 1, 1944) served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944. He was the first Filipino to head a government of the Philippines (as opposed to other historical states). Quezón is considered by most Filipinos to have been the second president of the Philippines, after Emilio Aguinaldo (1897–1901).

Quezón was the first Senate president elected to the presidency, the first president elected through a national election, and the first incumbent to secure re-election (for a partial second term, later extended, due to amendments to the 1935 Constitution). He is known as the "Father of the National Language".

During his presidency, Quezón tackled the problem of landless peasants in the countryside. Other major decisions include reorganization of the islands' military defense, approval of recommendation for government reorganization, promotion of settlement and development in Mindanao, tackling the foreign strangle-hold on Philippine trade and commerce, proposals for land reform, and the tackling of graft and corruption within the government. Quezón established an exiled government in the US with the outbreak of the war and the threat of Japanese invasion. During his exile in the US, Manuel L. Quezón died of tuberculosis in Saranac Lake, New York.