By Max V. Soliven
Yet neither President Manuel Quezon nor the Filipinos of that Golden Yesterday were as perfect as they may seem in the afterglow. Quezon himself was grand and petty at the same time, generous and vengeful, sometimes nasty in politics, magnificent in statesmanship. When my father, an Assemblyman from Ilocos Sur, clashed with him on "block voting", Quezon scratched his name off the official Senatorial line-up of the ruling Nacionalista Party. He vengefully moved to topple Manuel A. Roxas from the Speakership of the House. Roxas was ejected, indeed, but he declared later: "I am happier now because I fell from that pedestal of power directly into the arms of the people."
Quezon groused later: "Mr. Roxas is a martyr of his own incompetence."
Quezon got his own share of criticism, even insults, Don Teodoro Kalaw – the outspoken Editor of the newspaper El Renacimiento, termed Quezon the "most pernicious man" – in local politics. Strangely, MLQ did not resent this derogatory statement, but appointed Kalaw director of the National Library – a much-coveted post in those days.
"But I hardly know English!" the Spanish-speaking Kalaw honestly protested.
"Oh, that’s all right," Quezon had replied. "I’m appointing you because of your knowledge of Constitutional law."
Quezon as Assemblyman from Tayabas (now Quezon Province) went to the US to lobby for independence, and was invited to lunch by American President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Oyster Bay. Don Manuel was very impressed with FDR. At the luncheon, Roosevelt told him that the policy of the US was to grant the Philippines independence "in due time." MLQ made the mistake of blabbing about this to the press, not realizing Roosevelt’s remark was "supposed" to be off-the-record. The White House issued an official denial. That’s where Quezon learned that in diplomatic protocol, truth is often denied.
He was discouraged, when enroute home by ship, after receiving newspaper clippings strongly assailing his trip as a useless squandering of "public funds." He wrote to Kalaw from Shanghai:
"I think I shall throw all politics out of the window as soon as I finish my present political commitment. A politician’s road is strewn with thorns and thistles. That is not the kind of life I long for . . . I think it will be good to take a rest. My country has no need of me, as it has no need of anyone."
If Quezon had really quit then, how would our history have gone – and where would have been his place in history?
If Manuel A. Roxas, after his rebuff by Quezon and his "fall" from the Speakership, had given up – would he have become the first postwar President, and the first President of the Philippine Republic?
The lives of the men who made our nation what it is today tell us that there is nothing new under the sun. What made our leaders of yesterday great is that they rose from disappointment, and near despair to meet the challenges which confronted them.
And here’s what the Los Angeles Times wrote about the situation in Manila in 1914 – or 16 years after American "occupation" and tutelage: "The Philippine Islands are cursed with a lot of native politicians who, for graft and greed, excel anything presented by Tammany in the days of Tweed." (The Teapot Dome Scandal in America demonstrated that things were just the same in Washington DC – and that was long before the scandal of the Nixon Tapes).
In these days of the "Hello, Garci" ringtone the vital lesson we must learn from our past is that we can triumph if we only persevere.
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