The Philippines have produced a number of excellent public servants, but two have stood out all

during the years. They are the late president, Manuel L. Quezon, and the present president, Sergio
Osmeña.
Manuel Quezon was a major in the Filipino army that fought against the Americans. He was a
brilliant young lawyer who left his profession to enter politics. His first office was the governorship
of Tayabas, his native province. Up a ladder of other offices he climbed to become, after 1916, the
acknowledged leader of the Filipinos at home and the most ardent advocate of their cause before the
American Congress and people. He led many missions to the United States, returning from one of
them with the Independence Act, which his people readily accepted. Two years earlier he had
opposed an almost identical independence measure brought back by Osmeña.
Quezon was a brilliant and courageous man, a keen and resourceful politician, impulsive, generous,
and strong-willed. Though vain, his love of country outweighed love of self. He became to his people
the symbol of freedom, of Philippine nationalism.