With the Japanese invasion rapidly advancing to the southern part of the Philippines, President Manuel L. Quezon was advised by General Douglas MacArthur to establish a government in exile to the United States; Quezon invited Chief Justice Abad Santos to leave with him. The latter declined preferring to remain in the Philippines and carry on his work and stay with his family. On March 17, 1942 the day of Quezon's departure at Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental for the US by way of Australia, he appointed Abad Santos as the Acting President with full authority to act in the name of, and on behalf of the President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines and become the Acting Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in some areas unoccupied by the Japanese.