Their legitimacy was supported by the U.S. government led by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Quezon joined the inter-governmental Pacific War Council.

While the government had been granted emergency powers by the Philippine Legislature shortly after the invasion, the term of President Quezon was constitutionally limited to end in November 1943.

Shortly before this date, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution extending the term until "constitutional processes and normal functions of government shall have been restored to the Philippine Islands."

President Manuel L. Quezon was in Baguio recuperating from a recurrence of an old illness, and immediately traveled by road the 160 miles to Manila to take charge of the Filipino resistance.

Generally, the act authorized the President, during the existence of the emergency, to promulgate such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to carry out the national policy.

[6] At dusk on February 20, the American submarine USS Swordfish (SS-193) slipped through mine fields, was boarded by President Quezon and his party, and transported them to Iloilo, which had not yet been occupied by Japanese forces.

The U.S. government agreed and, in the spring of 1942, the SS President Coolidge, which had been pressed into service to evacuate U.S. citizens from parts of Asia after the Japanese attacks and converted into a troopship, transported Quezon and his party to the U.S. escorted by the cruiser USS St. Louis, departing Melbourne on April 20 and arriving in San Francisco on May 8.

They spent the night at the White House and were guests of honor the following day at a luncheon hosted by the Roosevelts to formally welcome the exiled Philippine Government to the United States, underscoring its legitimacy.

[14] The United States government considered issues relating to the Philippines to be internal affairs due to their claim to sovereignty over the islands.

The power and authority to determine who is the head of government in exile in Washington rests exclusively with the President of the United States.

"[19] In light of noncompliance with Article VII Section 2 of the Commonwealth constitution, Quezon was willing to submit the question of the legality of his status as President to the U.S. Congress.

For a month early in 1944, he stayed at Anne Hathaway Cottage on the grounds of Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina, which was home to the government in exile at the time.

He was sworn in by Associate Justice Robert Jackson in Washington, D.C.[24] He returned to the Philippines the same year with U.S. military liberation forces.