QUEZON PASSES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 181, 2 August 1944, Page 4

QUEZON PASSES

COLOURFUL CAREER LONG RIVALRY ENDS Shrewd., peppery, uncontrollable, Manuel Quezon, president of the Philippine Government in exile, has been removed by death from the political stage. His death from tuberculosis is reported from Saranae Lake, New York.

Manuel L/uis Quezon y Molina, to give his full name, was regarded b%the Filipinos as their cleverest politican, their smartest poker player, their smoothest ballroom dancer, their best-dressed man, their orator, their constant winner b3 r overwhelming votes, their patriot and, from 1935, their president. A Spanish mestizo, that is, a mixture of the native and European races, he was educated at Manila's Santo Tomas University and studied law. Gravitating towards a political career, he rose to a provincial governorship and was subsequently elected to the National Ass'embly. He was chosen floor leader of the Assemble- by Sergie Osmeha, Chinese mestizo, leader of the Nationalist Party and Quezon's political rival for nearly 40 years. It was realised b3 r Quezon that anj* help for the Philippines must come from the United States. In 1909 he managed to find his wa3 T to Washington as Philippine Resident Commissioner, despite the fact that Osmena opposed the move. Seven 3 r ears later" he returned to Manila with the Jones Act in his pocket, giving the Philippines a two-house elective legislature and more independence than ever before. Quezon, national hero, became president of the Senate while Osmena remained in his old position as Speaker of the House. First President In 1930 Osmena's chance came at Washington. He got more than the Jones Act—a bill for complete independence. Swiftly Quezon marshalled his forces among the Islands' politic'., defeated the bill in the Philippine legislature and then, in 1934, a'ided b3 7 powerful United States sugar ana hemp lobbies, got his own independence bill. Pie became the obvious choice for first Philippine President. Quezon proclaimed that he would not accept office unless Osmena ran with him as Vice-Presi-dent Omena gave his consent, but, although in a subordinate rank in relation to his life-long political rival, his popularity did not diminish. When the two ran for re-election in 1941, Osmena polled a higher vote than Quezon. But the shadow of Japan fell across the Philippines, and Quezon and his Cabinet, in March, 1941, joined General Mac Arthur in Australia. In 1942 the Government was transferred to Washington where the last chapter of the long duel for power between Quezon and Osmena was written Congress and President Roosevelt put the Philippine Constitution in suspended animation, and decreed that Quezon should continue as Philippine President until the Japanese were driven from the islands", while Osmena continued as vice-President The Administration clearly wanted the ailing Manuel Quezon to stay, but the same resolution which maintained him in office automatically made Sergio Osmena President of the Philippines the moment the islands were reclaimed from the Japanese invaders. Now that death has removed Quezon from the political arena at the age of 66 3 r ears, it would appear that Osmena assumes at once the office that would have come to him with the expected change in the fortunes of war.