Osmeña, Sergio (sār'hēō ōsmā'nyä) [key], 1878–1961, Filipino statesman, b. Cebu island. He served as provincial governor of Cebu and as first speaker (1907–22) of the Philippine assembly. After service in the Philippine senate (1922–35), he was elected vice president of the new Philippine Commonwealth established in 1935. In Mar., 1942, he fled with President Manuel Quezon as the islands fell completely to the Japanese. After Quezon's death (1944) Osmeña became president of the government-in-exile, returning to the Philippines with U.S. invasion forces in Oct., 1944. In the 1946 presidential election he was defeated by Manuel Roxas.
