THE movie “Quezon” directed by Jerrold Tarog and starring Jericho Rosales in the lead role has generated much controversy especially after the grandson of the Commonwealth president, Ricky Avanceña, had a verbal tussle with them in a Q and A session.
Avanceña was understandably irritated by the movie’s characterization of his lolo as a scheming, vain and self-centered politician, a quintessential “trapo” which may have misled the present generation to liken Quezon to our present crop of politicos who have little redeeming value.
For an artistic product, Tarrog’s opus and Rosales’ inimitable portrayal were excellent, but opens the subject’s memory to rather unseemly discussion, especially when juxtaposed to what we are witnessing these days.
While watching the movie, I remembered an elocution contest which won for me the gold medal when I was a senior in high school.
As my alma mater, Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Intramuros was likewise Manuel Luis Quezon’s, we always had programs lined up on Aug. 19, his birth anniversary.
Not that the school had a paucity of heroes and national figures, too many to enumerate here, but Quezon towered over them for one feat credited mostly to his efforts – the fight for independence from American colonial rule.
The elocution contest I participated in asked us to speak about a facet of Quezon’s colorful public life.
The other contestants spoke about his heroism centered on the fight for independence, including one who praised his famous quote, that he would rather have a country run like hell by Filipinos than one run like heaven by foreigners.
It supposedly demonstrated Quezon’s fierce nationalism.
I chose what even my English instructor considered very different. I talked about Quezon, the master politician.
Serendipitously, I found myself involved in the nation’s politics two decades later, and through the years I have found myself departing from my academic preparation in business and economics and into the practice of Philippine politics and public service.
My brief elocution piece talked about how Quezon disarmed even his fiercest critics while navigating treacherous political waters.
He had this political nemesis who hardly gave him respite from criticism, a Southern Luzon politician from the opposition. Despite attempts to neutralize the criticisms, the politician remained staunchly anti-Quezon.
One day, the Senate President was informed that he could certify scholars for an American college education at the expense of the American government.
Early on, the American colonizers wanted to mold our youth into appreciating their way of life, be it for brain-washing or, as other historians praise, “altruism.”
One fine morning, Quezon went to the residence of his political enemy, and in the spirit of “lo cortes no quita lo valiente,” which conveys a character who stands his ground but does not forget good manners and courtesy, the oppositionist invited his prominent visitor to the living room of his house.
Expecting political talk, he asked Quezon politely what brought him visiting.
Quezon smiled and said with his Castilian mastery, “I have been given the honor of recommending scholars to America…well, I thought you might want your eldest son to be my first scholar.”
The political enemy was bowled over, speechless in gratitude, with tears welling in his eyes.
Here was a man who he had vilified, offering an opportunity of a lifetime for his son.
From that time on, the political enemy became Quezon’s ally, “body and soul.”
The movie Quezon used the same “body and soul” description for something less than noble in depicting the man as Machiavellian, given to compromises, even devious schemes and actions.
But politics is the art of the possible, and even when a compassionate Quezon wanted to host Jewish refugees from Hitler’s reign of terror, rejected by America herself, he masterfully plodded and even schemed to get his way.
For Quezon and for many politicians, the end, whether noble or ignoble, would justify the means.
But Quezon left his descendants not material wealth, but a good name, highlighted by that act of human compassion, aside from working tirelessly for our independence.
In the case of most of our present politicians, nothing but unlimited greed is their end.
Jerrold Tarog’s scriptwriter might have balanced his very political characterization of a great Filipino by including a chapter on that rare display of ennobling compassion.
Incidentally, in that earlier movie about the Jewish refugees with Raymond Bagatsing portraying Quezon, the head of the first family to be welcomed in the port of Manila identified himself as a Zimmerman.
Were they the ancestors of Rodrigo Duterte’s wife Elizabeth, with whom he sired our current vice-president?
