Q Quezon, Manuel (1878–1944) Philippine president Manuel Quezon was the oldest child of Spanish mestizo parents living in the small town of Baler on the east coast of Luzon island At nine the young Quezon was sent to San Juan de Letran College, where he completed his secondary education and finished his bachelor of arts degree He then went on to the University of Santo Tomás to study law In 1899, Quezon interrupted his studies to join Emilio Aguinaldo in the nationalist struggle against the United States, which had gained the Philippines from Spain after the Spanish-American War After Aguinaldo surrendered to the United States in 1901, Quezon returned to law school and passed the Philippine bar in 1903 He subsequently set up his own law firm in his home province of Tayabas Quezon’s populist leanings were evident in the way he made wealthy clients pay high fees while he provided free legal services to the poor Quezon entered politics in 1905 when he ran for the office of provincial governor in Tayabas Two years later he won a seat in the newly created Philippine assembly He became the majority floor leader, with Sergio Osmena from Cebu as speaker This marked the beginning of a long political collaboration with Osmena The next year Quezon and Osmena established the Nacionalista Party, although Osmena remained its recognized leader through the early 1920s Quezon traveled outside the Philippines during this period, attending the International Congress of Navigation in St Petersburg in 1908, visiting New York, and lunching with President Theodore Roosevelt In 1909, the Philippine assembly elected Quezon resident commissioner to the United States He would hold this post for the next seven years During this time he learned English and focused his energies on winning independence for the Philippines By the time he returned to the Philippines in 1916, his efforts had helped lead to the passage of the Philippine Autonomy Act, commonly known as the Jones Act The Jones Act led to a reorganization of the Philippine legislature on the U.S model and opened up new avenues for Quezon’s political advancement In 1916, having first won a senate seat, he was elected president of the senate by his fellow senators, a position he held until 1935 Exploiting the preamble of the Jones Act and inspired by the rhetoric of President Woodrow Wilson, Quezon led a team to Washington, D.C., in 1919 to lobby for independence A new presidential administration in the United States in the post–World War I period doomed Quezon’s mission In 1934 Quezon returned from yet another mission to the United States after the passage of the TydingsMcDuffie Act by the U.S Congress, which created a 10-year transitional Philippine Commonwealth prior to full independence The following year Quezon was elected president of the commonwealth, with Osmena as his vice president 311