3. Occupation: Head of State
Nationality: Philippines
Executive summary: 4th President of the
Philippines
Co-Founder of the Nacionalista Party.
Editor of El Nuevo Día newspaper, from
1903.
Died at Veteran's Memorial Hospital in
Quezon City, Manila.
Mother: Juana Osmeña y Suico
Son: Sergio Osmeña Jr. (Philippine Senator)
University: University of San Carlos
(1892)
University: San Juan de Letran College,
Manila
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5.
6.
7. Sergio Osmeña y Suico (9
September 1878 – 19
October 1961) was a
politician of Chinese
Filipino who served as
the 4th President of the
Philippines from 1944 to
1946.
8. He was Vice President
under Manuel L. Quezon, and
rose to the presidency upon
Quezon's death in 1944, being
the oldest Philippine president
to hold office at age 65. A
founder of Nacionalista Party,
he was the first Visayan to
become President of the
Philippines.
9. Prior to his succession to the
Presidency in 1944, Osmeña served as
Governor of Cebu from 1901–1907,
Member and Speaker of the Philippine
House of Representatives from 1907–
1922, and Senator from the 10th
Senatorial District for thirteen years,
in which capacity he served as Senate
President pro tempore. In 1935, he was
nominated to be the running-mate of
Senate President Manuel L. Quezon for
the presidential election that year. The
tandem was overwhelmingly re-elected
in 1941.
10. Osmeña is the patriarch of
the prominent Osmeña family,
which includes his son
(former Senator Sergio
Osmeña, Jr.) and his
grandsons (senators Sergio
Osmeña III and John Henry
Osmeña), ex-governor Lito
Osmeña and Cebu
City mayor Tomas Osmeña.
11. Sergio Osmeña was born
in Cebu to Juana Osmeña y Suico, who
was reportedly only 14 years of age
when she gave birth to him. Owing to
the circumstances of his birth, the
identity of his father had been a
closely guarded family secret.
Though an illegitimate child – Juana
never married his father – he didn't
allow this aspect to affect his
standing in society. The Osmeña
family, a rich and prominent clan
of Chinese Filipino heritage
12. He took his elementary education in
the Colegio de San Carlos and
graduated in 1892. Osmeña
continued his education in Manila,
studying in San Juan de Letran
College where he first metManuel
L. Quezon, a classmate of his, as
well as Juan Sumulong and Emilio
Jacinto. He took up law at
the University of Santo Tomas and
was second place in the bar
examination in 1903.
13. He served on the war staff of
General Emilio Aguinaldo as a
courier and journalist. In 1900,
he founded the Cebu
newspaper, El Nuevo Día which
lasted for three years. In 1904,
the American colonial
administration appointed him
governor of Cebu. Two years
later he was elected governor
of Cebu
15. House of Representatives
While governor, he ran for election to the
first Philippine Assembly of 1907 and was
elected Speaker of that body. Osmeña was 29
years old and already the highest-ranking
Filipino official. He and another provincial
politician, Manuel L. Quezon of Tayabas, set
up the Nacionalista Party as a foil to
the Partido Federalista of Manila-based
politicians. The two would engage in a rivalry
for political dominance ever since.
17. Together with Manuel Roxas,
Pres. Sergio Osmeña went on a
mission to the US to ask for the
Philippines' independence. The
mission was called OSROX,
coined from combining the first
letters of their family names.
The mission was successful. The
Philippines was granted its
independence.
