August 19 2015 declared holiday in Quezon City
The 137th birth anniversary of President Manuel L. Quezon will be commemorated this coming August 19, 2015, Wednesday.
Quezon is the third longest-serving president in Philippine history, behind Ferdinand Marcos and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He held the position from 1935 until his death in 1944.
August 19 is special non-working holiday in the provinces of Aurora and Quezon as well as in Quezon City as stated in Republic Act 6741. It is a working holiday in the rest of the Philippines. The law was enacted during the term of the late President Corazon Aquino. Read the full text of RA 6741 in this link.
Quezon is the first of the three presidents that led the country during the Commonwealth Era, a ten-year transition period beginning in 1935 before the United States granted the Philippines its complete independence. That period of self-rule was interrupted by the Japanese invasion of the country during World War II.
During that time, Quezon together with Vice President Sergio Osmena Sr. and many other top cabinet officials left the country to seek refuge in the US. Hence, actual management of the national government was left to Jose P. Laurel, the justice minister. Quezon eventually succumbed to tuberculosis in Saranac Lake, New York.
One of Quezon’s lasting legacies is the selection of Tagalog as the basis of the country’s national language during his tenure. Because of that, August of every year is celebrated as the Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa.
PS: August 19, 2015 is also a special non-working holiday in the municipality of Quezon, Isabela according to President Benigno Aquino III’s Proclamation 1083. Read the full announcement here.
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