Doctor Manuel Franco was born in Concepción on June 9, 1871, in times of the government of Cirilo Antonio Rivarola.

Manuel was son of Josefa Antonio Franco and was baptized in the Church of Concepción by Father Evaristo Serrano.

President Escurra appointed him, in June 1903, Director of the Colegio Nacional de la Capital, position he occupied until his replacement in 1907 by Cleto Romero.

Months later he became Director of the Agricultural Bank and in 1910 he obtained the tenure of the Supreme Court of Justice, along with Francisco C. Chávez and Manuel Burgos.

After the Great War was over, in the circumstances of total ruin, new factors started to operate, some of them good for the continuity and expansion of culture and education.

He traced objectives in his government, giving priority to the professional education, the land reform, the implementation of the secret vote and the fixing of the currency value.

He formed a first class ministerial cabinet, selecting the most noticeable of intelligence in Paraguayan politics: Luis A. Riart, Manuel Gondra, Félix Paiva, Eligio Ayala and Ernesto Velázquez.

Manuel died of a heart attack, in office on June 5, 1919, and the Vice-president José P. Montero assumed the Presidency.