Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina (19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also referred to by

his initials MLQ, was a Filipino statesman, soldier and politician who served as
president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944. He was the first
Filipino to head a government of the entire
Philippines (as opposed to the government of
previous Philippine states), and is considered to
have been the second president of the Philippines,
after Emilio Aguinaldo (1899–1901). During his
presidency, Quezon tackled the problem of landless
peasants in the countryside. His other major
decisions include the reorganization of the islands'
military defense, approval of a recommendation for
government reorganization, the promotion of
settlement and development in Mindanao, dealing
with the foreign stranglehold on Philippine trade and
commerce, proposals for land reform, and opposing
graft and corruption within the government. He
established a government-in-exile in the U.S. with
the outbreak of the war and the threat of Japanese
invasion. It was during his exile in the U.S. that he
died of tuberculosis at Saranac Lake, New York. He was buried in the Arlington National
Cemetery until the end of World War II, when his remains were moved to Manila. His
final resting place is the Quezon Memorial Circle. In 2015, the Board of the International
Raoul Wallenberg Foundation approved a posthumous bestowal of the Wallenberg
Medal upon President Quezon and to the people of the Philippines for having reached
out, between 1937 and 1941, to the victims of the Holocaust. President Benigno Aquino
III and then-94-year-old Maria Zenaida Quezon Avanceña, the daughter of the former
president, were informed of this recognition
José Paciano Laurel y García CCLH (March 9, 1891 – November 6, 1959) was a
Filipino politician and judge. He was the president of the Second Philippine Republic, a
Japanese puppet state when occupied during World War II, from 1943 to 1945. Since
the administration of President Diosdado Macapagal (1961–1965), Laurel has been
officially recognized by later administrations as a former president of the Philippines.
José Paciano Laurel y García was born on March 9, 1891 in the town of Tanauan,
Batangas. His parents were Sotero Laurel I and Jacoba García. His father had been an
official in the revolutionary government of Emilio
Aguinaldo and a signatory to the 1899 Malolos
Constitution. While a teen, Laurel was indicted for
attempted murder when he almost killed a rival
suitor of the girl he stole a kiss from with a fan knife.
While studying and finishing law school, he argued
for and received an acquittal.[1] Laurel received his
law degree from the University of the Philippines
College of Law in 1915, where he studied under
Dean George A. Malcolm, whom he would later
succeed on the Supreme Court. He then obtained a
Master of Laws degree from University of Santo
Tomas in 1919. Laurel then attended Yale Law
School, where he obtained his J.S.D. degree. Laurel
began his life in public service while a student, as a
messenger in the Bureau of Forestry then as a clerk
in the Code Committee tasked with the codification
of Philippine laws. During his work for the Code Committee, he was introduced to its
head, Thomas A. Street, a future Supreme Court Justice who would be a mentor to the
young Laurel.[2] Upon his return from Yale, Laurel was appointed first as
Undersecretary of the Interior Department, then promoted as Secretary of the Interior in
1922. In that post, he would frequently clash with the American Governor-General
Leonard Wood, and eventually, in 1923, resign from his position together with other
Cabinet members in protest of Wood's administration. His clashes with Wood solidified
Laurel's nationalist credentials. Laurel was a member of the Philippine fraternity Upsilon
Sigma Phi.[3]
Sergio Osmeña Sr. PLH (Spanish: [ˈseɾxjo ozˈmeɲa]; 9 September 1878 – 19 October
1961) was a Filipino politician who served as the fourth President of the Philippines from
1944 to 1946. He was Vice President under Manuel L.
Quezon. Upon Quezon's sudden death in 1944,
Osmeña succeeded him at age 65, becoming the
oldest person to assume the Philippine presidency until
Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016 at age 71. A
founder of the Nacionalista Party, Osmeña was also
the first Visayan to become president. Prior to his
accession in 1944, Osmeña served as Governor of
Cebu from 1906 to 1907, Member and first Speaker of
the Philippine House of Representatives from 1907 to
1922, and Senator from the 10th Senatorial District for
thirteen years, in which capacity he served as Senate
President pro tempore. In 1935, he was nominated to
be the running-mate of Senate President Manuel L.
Quezon for the presidential election that year. The duo
were overwhelmingly re-elected in 1941. He was the
patriarch of the prominent Osmeña family, which
includes his son, former Senator Sergio Osmeña Jr., and his grandsons, senators
Sergio Osmeña III and John Henry Osmeña, ex-governor Lito Osmeña and Cebu City
mayor Tomas Osmeña.
Manuel Acuña Roxas (Tagalog pronunciation: [aˈkuɲa ˈɾohas]; born Manuel Roxas y
Acuña; January 1, 1892 – April 15, 1948) was the fifth President of the Philippines who
served from 1946 until his death in 1948. He briefly served as the third and last
President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines
from May 28, 1946 to July 4, 1946 and then became
the first President of the independent Third Philippine
Republic after the United States ceded its
sovereignty over the Philippines. Roxas occupied
more important positions in the Philippine
government than any other Filipino had ever held
before him.[citation needed] Starting in 1917 he was
a member of the municipal council of Capiz. He
became the youngest governor of Capiz and served
in this capacity from 1919 to 1922. He was elected to
the Philippine House of Representatives in 1922, and
for twelve consecutive years was Speaker of the
House. He was a member of the Constitutional
Convention from 1934 to 1935, Secretary of Finance,
Chairman of the National Economic Council,
Chairman of the National Development Company and
many other government corporations and agencies, Brigadier General in the USAFFE,
recognized guerilla leader and military leader of the Philippine Commonwealth Army.
Elpidio Quirino y Rivera (November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Philippine
lawyer and politician who served as the sixth President of the Philippines from 1948 to
1953. A lawyer by profession, Quirino entered politics when he became a representative
of Ilocos Sur from 1919 to 1925. He was then
elected as senator from 1925 to 1931. In 1934, he
became a member of the Philippine independence
commission that was sent to Washington, D.C.,
which secured the passage of Tydings–McDuffie
Act to American Congress. In 1935, he was also
elected to the convention that drafted the 1935
constitution for the newly established
Commonwealth. In the new government, he
served as secretary of the interior and finance
under President Manuel Quezon's cabinet. After
World War II, Quirino was elected vice-president in
the 1946 election, consequently the second and
last for the Commonwealth and first for the third
republic. After the death of the incumbent
president Manuel Roxas in 1948, he succeeded
the presidency. He won the president's office
under Liberal Party ticket, defeating Nacionalista vice president and former president
José P. Laurel as well as fellow Liberalista and former Senate President José Avelino.
The Quirino administration was generally challenged by the Hukbalahaps, who
ransacked towns and barrios. Quirino ran for president again in 1953 but was defeated
by Ramon Magsaysay.
Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr. (August 31, 1907 – March 17, 1957) was a Filipino
statesman who served as the seventh President of the Philippines, from December 30,
1953 until his death in an aircraft disaster. An
automobile mechanic by profession, Magsaysay was
appointed military governor of Zambales after his
outstanding service as a guerilla leader during the
Pacific War. He then served two terms as Liberal Party
congressman for Zambales before being appointed
Secretary of National Defense by President Elpidio
Quirino. He was elected president under the banner of
the Nacionalista Party. He was the first Philippine
president born during the 20th century and the first to
be born after the Spanish colonial era. Ramon del
Fierro Magsaysay, of mixed Tagalog and Ilocano
descent,[3] was born in Iba, Zambales on August 31,
1907 to Exequiel Magsaysay y de los Santos (April 18,
1874 in San Marcelino, Zambales – January 24, 1969
in Manila), a blacksmith, and Perfecta del Fierro y
Quimson (April 18, 1886 in Castillejos, Zambales –
May 5, 1981 in Manila), a schoolteacher.[4]
Carlos Polistico Garcia (November 4, 1896 – June 14, 1971) was a Filipino teacher,
poet, orator, lawyer, public official, political economist, organized guerrilla and
Commonwealth military leader, who was the eighth President of the Philippines. Garcia
was born in Talibon, Bohol, Philippines on November 4, 1896, to Policronio Garcia and
Ambrosia Polístico, who were both natives of Bangued, Abra.

Garcia grew up with politics, with his father serving as a municipal mayor for four terms.
He acquired his primary education in his native town Talibon, then took his secondary
education in Cebu Provincial High School, now Abellana National School, both at the
top of his class. Initially, he pursued his college education at Silliman University in
Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, and later studied at the Philippine Law School, then
the College of Law of National University, where he earned his law degree in 1923 and
later, where he was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Humanities, Honoris Causa
from the National University in 1961. He was among the top ten law students in the bar
examination.[2]

Rather than practice law right away, he worked as a teacher for two years at Bohol
Provincial High School. He became famous for his poetry in Bohol, where he earned the
nickname "Prince of Visayan Poets" and the "Bard from Bohol".