Leoncio Monzon

Photo portion courtesy of Quezon Family Collection https://www.flickr.com/photos/quezonfamilycollection/25853692155/in....

Leoncio graduated from the UP in 1920 with a degree in law. After a disagreement on principle with a Manila university where he was dean, he and 18 faculty members (all noted lawyers, such as Lorenzo M. Tanada) resigned. In 1947, the group set up the Manuel L. Quezon School of Law. Within three years of its founding, the school became noted for the quality of its law degree program because of its graduates’ performance in the bar exams.

With the gradual inclusion of academic organisational units such as the School of Education, the Manuel L. Quezon School of Law became the MLQ Educational Institution. In 1958, the institution attained university status; it consequently changed its name to the MLQ University (MLQU).

Leoncio served as the first president and first board chairman of the MLQU. He was active in his profession (he helped set up the Philippine Bar Association) and in the academe (he was president of the Imus Institute from 1947 to 1980, and was president of the Far Eastern University). For his achievements in law and in education, a street in Imus, Cavite (his hometown) was named after him.

In 2014, New San Jose Builders Inc., a real estate company, acquired MLQU from the descendants of MLQU’s original founders.

1) https://www.mlqu.ph/mlqu

2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_L._Quezon_University