Today, Aug. 19, is the 142nd birth anniversary of President Manuel L. Quezon, the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth.
Quezon was an Army major in the First Republic and the majority leader in the First Philippine Assembly.
As a Resident Commissioner to the United States, he was instrumental in the passage of the Jones Act in 1916, which led to the grant of Philippine independence.
The first Senate president, Quezon was elected as Philippine president in 1935 and again in 1941. He died on Aug. 1, 1944.
—Marielle Medina, Inquirer Research
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