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"Let us get together in one mighty effort. Let us set aside selfish considerations and forget petty differences. Only in unity can there be strength."

Today, we celebrate the 143rd Birth Anniversary of Cebu’s "Grand Old Man", former Cebu Governor and former Philippine President Sergio Osmeña Sr. pursuant to Republic Act No. 6953.

Osmeña, a lawyer and newspaper editor, became the Provincial Governor of Cebu in 1904 and was elected in 1907 to the 1st Philippine Assembly in which he served as its founding Speaker until his election to the Senate in 1922.

He was later elected as Vice President of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935 and concurrently served as Secretary of Public Instruction from 1935 to 1940, and again from 1941 to 1944.

Upon the death of President Manuel L. Quezon on August 1, 1944, Osmeña became the new President of the Commonwealth, the first Visayan to do so, to which he served until he was defeated in an election by Manuel Roxas in April 1946.