Sergio Osmena: The Cebuano President

The Cebu province commemorates the birthday of Sergio Osmena every 9th of September. For those who are not familiar with him, Sergio was the second president in the Philippine Commonwealth Government and the founder of the Nacionalista Party. He became known to be a prominent figure in the fight for Philippine independence.


Early years

Sergio Osmena was born and raised in Cebu. He studied elementary at the University of San Carlos and went to Manila to study high school in San Juan de Letran College where he met Manuel L. Quezon, a fellow Nacionalista Party founder. He went to University of Santo Tomas to take up law and placed second in the bar exams.


Politics

He started his political career as a councilor. He was appointed as governor and fiscal for Cebu and Negros provinces in 1904 before he was elected governor of Cebu two years later. In 1916, he was speaker of the House of Representatives until he was elected Senator in 1923.


Presidency

Both Osmena and Quezon were bent to fight independence for the country, but the tandem got rocky because of differences in their ideas. Osmena went to Washington D.C. in 1933 to secure the passage of Hare-Hawes-Cutting independence bill, but Quezon differed the bill thus led to the Tydings-McDuffie Act of March 1934, which made the country a commonwealth. Quezon became president while Osmena became the vice-president. Later, Osmena became the president in 1944 following the death of Manuel Quezon.

What made Sergio Osmena important is not just because he was the first Cebuano president but he was a figure in our fight for independence during the American colonization.



Maria Celeste Abellana
iSTORYA League of Writers


Celeste is a content writer. blogger. social media addict. learning social media marketing. loves music and coffee. future work-from-home mom. single parent to an awesome boy who is growing up too fast.