BENJAMIN LAGUHIL

MANUEL L. QUEZON ADMINISTRATION

Manuel Quezon, in full Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina, (born August 19,
1878, Baler, Philippines—died August 1, 1944, Saranac Lake, New York, U.S.),
Filipino statesman, leader of the independence movement, and first president of
the Philippine Commonwealth established under U.S. tutelage in 1935.
Quezon was the son of a schoolteacher and small landholder of Tagalog
descent on the island of Luzon. He cut short his law studies at the University of
Santo Tomás in Manila in 1899 to participate in the struggle for independence
against the United States, led by Emilio Aguinaldo. After Aguinaldo surrendered in
1901, however, Quezon returned to the university, obtained his degree (1903),
and practiced law for a few years. Convinced that the only way to independence
was through cooperation with the United States, he ran for governor of Tayabas
province in 1905. Once elected, he served for two years before being elected a
representative in 1907 to the newly established Philippine Assembly.
In 1909 Quezon was appointed resident commissioner for the Philippines,
entitled to speak, but not vote, in the U.S. House of Representatives; during his
years in Washington, D.C., 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. The act gave
the Philippines greater autonomy and provided for the creation of a bicameral
national legislature modeled after the U.S. Congress. Quezon resigned as
commissioner and returned to Manila to be elected to the newly formed
Philippine Senate in 1916; 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 Osmeña.
Quezon fought for passage of the Tydings–McDuffie Act (1934), which
provided for full independence for the Philippines 10 years after the creation of a
constitution and the establishment of a Commonwealth government that would
be the forerunner of an independent republic. Quezon was elected president of
the newly formulated Commonwealth on September 17, 1935. As president he
reorganized the islands’ military defense (aided by U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur
as his special adviser), tackled the huge problem of landless peasants in the
countryside who still worked as tenants on large estates, promoted the
settlement and development of the large southern island of Mindanao, and
fought graft and corruption in the government. A new national capital, later
known as Quezon City, was built in a suburb of Manila.
Quezon was reelected president in 1941. After Japan invaded and occupied
the Philippines in 1942, he went to the United States, where he formed a
government in exile, served as a member of the Pacific War Council, signed the
declaration of the United Nations against the fascist nations, and wrote his
autobiography, The Good Fight (1946). Quezon died of tuberculosis before full
Philippine independence was established.
What is civic education?
Civic Education in a democracy is education in self government. Democratic
self government means that citizens are actively involved in their own
governance; they do not just passively accept the dictums of others or acquiesce
to the demands of others. As Aristotle put it in his Politics (c 340 BC), "If liberty
and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they
will be attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost." In
other words, the ideals of democracy are most completely realized when every
member of the political community shares in its governance. Members of the
political community are its citizens, hence citizenship in a democracy is
membership in the body politic. Membership implies participation, but not
participation for participation's sake. Citizen participation in a democratic society
must be based on informed, critical reflection, and on the understanding and
acceptance of the rights and responsibilities that go with that membership.
Civic education in a democratic society most assuredly needs to be
concerned with promoting understanding of the ideals of democracy and a
reasoned commitment to the values and principles of democracy. That does not
mean, however, that democracy should be presented as utopia. Democracy is not
utopian, and citizens need to understand that lest they become cynical, apathetic,
or simply withdraw from political life when their unrealistic expectations are not
met. To be effective civic education must be realistic; it must address the central
truths about political life. The American Political Science Association (APSA)
recently formed a Task Force on Civic Education. Its statement of purpose calls for
more realistic teaching about the nature of political life and a better
understanding of "the complex elements of 'the art of the possible'." The APSA
report faults existing civic education because all too often it

seems unable to counter the belief that, in politics, one either wins or loses,
and to win means getting everything at once, now! The sense that politics can
always bring another day, another chance to be heard, to persuade and perhaps
to gain part of what one wants, is lost. Political education today seems unable to
teach the lessons of our political history: Persistent civic engagement-the slow,
patient building of first coalitions and then majorities-can generate social change.
(Carter and Elshtain, 1997.)
A message of importance, therefore, is that politics need not, indeed must
not, be a zero-sum game. The idea that "winner takes all" has no place in a
democracy, because if losers lose all they will opt out of the democratic game.
Sharing is essential in a democratic society-the sharing of power, of resources,
and of responsibilities. In a democratic society the possibility of effecting social
change is ever present, if citizens have the knowledge, the skills and the will to
bring it about. That knowledge, those skills and the will or necessary traits of
private and public character are the products of a good civic education.