• He was called "Ama ng Wikang Pambansa" because of his campaign for Filipino as the the national language.
• Worked as manservant of Rev. Father Teodoro Fernandez, in a church in Intramuros
• Finished Bachelor of Arts at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran at the age of 16
  Started law practice in 1903
• Elected governor of Tayabas (now Quezon) in 1905.
• He never tasted defeat in politics.
• Was a member of the first Philippine Assembly in 1906.
• As resident commissioner in the U.S. Congress (1909-1916), he strongly fought for Philippine Independence.
• Was designated Lieutenant, Captain and Major in the Army during the Philippine Revolution and the Filipino-American War.
• Served under the leadership Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and Gen. Tomas Mascardo.
• Represented the Philippines in the International Congress of Navigation in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1908.
• Chairman of the majority group, First Philippine Assembly.
• Returned from the United States after the passing of the Jones Law in 1916, the law which states that the Philippines would be given independence if the Filipinos could prove that they had the capability to run their own government.
• Was Senate President in 1923.
• Assured the passing of the Tydings-McDuffie Law which provides for a 10-year moratorium for the independence of the Philippines and which allows for the holding of a Constitutional Convention.
• Elected President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines on September 17, 1935.
• The first Filipino Leader to reside at the Malacañang Palace.
• Initiated the official use of the national language through the Commonwealth Law No. 570.
• After the Japanese Regime, he fled to the United States where he governed the Philippines up' to the last days of his life.
• According to him, he would prefer a worst government run by Filipinos to an ideal government run by Americans.

Philippine Information