Thoughts To Live By Are Quezon's Best Legacy

Today, August 19, the nation celebrates the 143rd birth anniversary of President Manuel L. Quezon, the president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines who served from 1935 to 1944. We remember him as the first chief executive who ruled over the entire Philippine islands, whereas those before him governed only in parts of the territory.

Quezon led an inspiring, colorful life, one that was punctuated with snippets of danger and action on the ground (like running a government while bombs are dropping and exploding everywhere), and political intrigues in high office, as he was president during the war years. He was in every gene a multi-racial Filipino, by blood and by culture, being the son of a Chinese mestizo father and a Spanish mestiza mother, both public school teachers, in Baler, Tayabas.

We note with interest that President Duterte was not the first city fiscal who rose to become mayor, congressman, then president of the nation. Quezon was a practicing lawyer in Tayabas when he decided to become a prosecutor and he successfully prosecuted an American accused of land-related crimes. This popularity led to Quezon’s election as Lucena councilor, then member of the Philippine Assembly representing Tayabas, a senator and Senate President, and the presidency.