'Manuel L. Quezon' actor shares Buwan ng Wika message

Opening the Buwan ng Wika (National Language Month) and Quezon Month this August is the Filipino biopic Quezon, which released its character posters last 1 August.

Featuring Jericho Rosales in the titular role and Benjamin Alves as the younger Quezon, the movie also stars Mon Confiado as first Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo; Game of Thrones star Iain Glen as Governor-General Leonard Wood; Romnick Sarmenta as Senator Sergio Osmeña; Karylle Tatlonghari-Yuzon as Doña Aurora Quezon; and JC Santos as Sen. Manuel Roxas, among others.

Answering a query from DAILY TRIBUNE, Rosales shared what he thinks Buwan ng Wika is all about in the eyes of Quezon.

“Para sa’kin, s’yempre, Buwan ng Wika ‘yan. (Of course for me, it’s National Language Month). There is a reason why he (Quezon) actually started that. And it resonates now kasi marami na sa’tin nakakalimot magsalita ng Tagalog (Because many of us already forget speaking Tagalog)… Pero s’yempre, respetuhin natin salitang Cebuano, Ilonggo (But of course, let us also respect other languages)… ang importante d’yan nagkakaintindihan tayo (what is important is that we understand each other) and it’s about good communication.”

According to him, they finished filming a month ago and director Jerrold Tarog is already done editing the film and is now working on a few touches like sound.

“We’re done! I can’t wait!” declared Jericho at the interview with DAILY TRIBUNE and other press following his launch as new endorser of new credit card Maya Black, together with Maris Racal and Julia Barretto.

Quezon is based on the life of Manuel L. Quezon or MLQ, a Filipino statesman, lawyer, politician and soldier, who served as the Philippines’ second president from 1935 until his death on 1 August 1944.

Born in Baler, which is now the capital of Aurora, to primary school teachers Lucio Quezon Urbina and María Dolores Molina, MLQ defeated Aguinaldo at the 1935 presidential election, becoming the first Filipino to lead a government encompassing the entire Philippines.

With the outbreak of World War II and Japanese invasion threat, he established a government in exile in the US. He was often described by scholars as “the first Filipino politician to integrate all levels of politics into a synergy of power” following constitutional amendments such as removal of his term limits as president and making the Senate an extension of his executive powers.

Among the highlights of his term were reorganization of the country’s military defense; Mindanao settlement promotion and development; land reform amendments and tackling the problem of landless peasants; signing the Women’s Suffrage Bill that enabled women to vote; securing the passage of the Tydings-McDuffie Act that established the process for the Philippines as an independent country after a 10-year transition period as a US territory and the writing of the 1935 Philippine Constitution; and reaching out to Holocaust victims from 1937 to 1941, for which MLQ received a posthumous Wallenberg Medal.

MLQ, however, has been best known as the “Ama ng Wikang Filipino” (Father of the Filipino Language) after declaring Tagalog as the National Language together with English and Spanish, through an Executive Order on 30 December 1937, enacted on 4 July 1946 after Quezon’s death. He is now buried together with wife Aurora at the centerpiece shrine and memorial of Quezon City, which was named after him.