Quick Links: Talumpati | Licensed Librarians | Filipiniana Online | Stereotypes | Leadership | The Philippines

FO: Talumpati Ni Manuel Quezon

See also the category "Talumpati." And whether you found what you were looking for or not, please leave a comment below so I can help you better.
August is Buwan ng Wika (Language Month).

One of the most common search terms that lead readers to this blog is "talumpati ni manuel quezon," so I will try to go beyond the little that I wrote in "Manuel Quezon and the National Language" by linking to speeches delivered by Manuel L. Quezon while he was a resident commissioner in the US Congress from 1909-1917:
[Updated 17 August 2009: For speeches in Tagalog, see "Manuel L. Quezon — Wikang Pambansa" and "Manuel L. Quezon."]


Philippine Independence (2 March 1911)

Quezon reads a letter from the Nacionalista Party addressed to the Secretary of War, and comments on foreign ownership of Philippine land:
To-day no one who is in any way familiar with the events in the Islands could fail to realize that the independence of their country is the most fervent and sacred desire of the whole Filipino people. I am betraying no secret when I assert here that the unanimous opposition of the Filipino people to the sale of their public or of the so-called friar lands to American capitalists is mainly the result of their fear that said course will in the end defeat their cherished national ambition.
The Filipino People Ask Justice (13 February 1913)

The credibility of two representatives opposed to granting independence to the Philippines is demolished by Quezon, who notes that one has never been there while the other stayed only for a month. In addition, he says,
...you may read the history of a country and learn it by heart. You may know its statistics; the extent of the population; what proportion of its people can read and write, and how many can speak this, that, or the other language; how much they sell and produce; but to know the people, their characteristics, capabilities, and shortcomings, is not necessarily to know their numbers, their literacy, or their internal or foreign trade. To know a people you must not only live with them for a number of years, but share their feelings, possess a sympathy for their aspirations, and, most important of all, be broad minded enough to abandon race prejudice and fixed views on the superiority of one civilization over another.
Discursos (26 September-14 October 1914)

It's in Spanish, so there's not really much I can say except that it looks like it's a series of speeches for the Philippine Assembly regarding the Jones Law.
You may also wish to read Future of the Philippines by Edward Price Bell (1925), which features an interview where Quezon states his belief that Japan is "nonagressive." In answer to the question, "It is better for the Philippines to be ill-governed by the Filipinos than well-governed by the Americans?" Quezon says, "By the Americans or any other non-Filipinos."

[Note: All the documents cited above may be viewed as images or text—or downloaded as pdf files—by going to the site's toolbar and choosing the desired "Format." The same toolbar also allows navigation by "Page no.," magnification of "Page size" and searching via "Search this text.]

Finally, there's Manuel L. Quezon III's page devoted to his grandfather, which includes Quezon's autobiography. Sadly, while the link to the "Quezon speech on the national language" works, the page doesn't deliver on the title's promise.


Category: Filipiniana Online, Talumpati

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...