Filipino statesman, Leader of the independence movement against the United States' annexation of the Philippines, and the first President of the Philippine Commonwealth established under United States tutelage in 1935.

Manuel Luis Quezon was born in the small town of Baler province of Tayaas on August 19, 1879. His parents are Lucio Quezon and Maria Dolores Molina. He spent his early years in his hometown among the common folk. He studied at the San Juan de Letran college  where he finished Bachelor of Arts degree at the age of sixteen (16). He also took up law at the University of Santo Tomas but was cut off because he participated in the struggle for independence against the United States, led by Emilio Aguinaldo. After Aguinaldo surrendered in 1901, Quezon returned to the University and obtained his degree in 1903 and practiced law for a year.

Quezon was convinced that the only way to win independence was thrugh cooperation with the United States. He then ran for governor of Tayabas province in 1905. He served this post for two years before being elected as a representative of the newly established Philippine Assembly in 1907.

In 1909, Quezon was appointed Resident Commissioner for the Philippines. He was entitled to speak, but not to vote, in the U.S. House of Representatives. He fought vigorously for a speedy grant of independence by the United States. Quezon played a major role in obtaining Congress passage in 1916 of the Jones Act, which pledged independence for the Philippines without giving a specific date when it would take effect.

Quezon resigned as a commissioner and returned to Manila to be elected to the newly formed Philippine Senate in 1946. He subsequently served as its president until 1935. In 1922, he gained control of the Nacionalista party, which had previously been led by his rival Sergio Osmena.

Quezon fought for passage of the Tydings McDuffie Act(1934) which provided for full independence for the Philippines. Ten years prior to this independence, a commonwealth government was created and Quezon was to become the president in 1941.

As a President,Quezon believed that the government should be "more government and less politics". He tackled the huge problem of landless peasants in the countryside who still worked as tenants on large estates. He reorganized the islands military defense (aided by Gen. Douglas McArthur as his special adviser). He also promote the settlement and development of the large southern island of Mindanao, and fought graft and corruption in the government.

After Japan invaded and occupied the Philippines in 1942, he went to United States, where he formed a government in exile, served as a member of the Pacific war council, and signed the declaration of the United Nations against the fascist nation

He is best remembered as the "Father of the Philippine Language"

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