Elpidio Quirino

Elpidio Quirino

Philippine President (1948-1953) 6th President of the Republic of the Philippines

Vice-President: Fernando H. Lopez

Assumed the remaining term & re-elected

From The liberal party (LP)

Also known as "apo lakay

QUIRINO, ELPIDIO [Quirino, Elpidio] , 1890-1956, Filipino statesman, b. Ilocos Sur prov., Luzon. After he was admitted (1915) to the bar he became a law clerk in the Philippine senate. For many years he was Manual Quezon 's political aide. Quirino was elected (1919) to the Philippine house of representatives, and as senator (1925-35, 1941) he devoted himself to problems of finance. After the Japanese invasion in World War II he became a leader of the underground and was captured and imprisoned; his wife and three of his five children were killed by the conquerors. After the liberation (1945) of the Philippines, Quirino became president pro tempore of the senate and was elected (1946) first vice president of the independent Philippine republic. When President Manuel Roxas died (1948), Quirino succeeded to the presidency and was elected to that office in 1949. His administration was plagued by the Hukbalahap insurrection. Although ill, Quirino ran for reelection (1953), but he was overwhelmingly defeated by Ramon Magsaysay .

Programs and Achievement:

- Quirino's six years as president were marked by notable postwar reconstruction, general economic gains, and increased economic aid from the United States.

- Quirino attempted to introduce the policy of economic nationalism.

- Roxas died in April 1948. He was succeeded by Elpidio Quirino. Both Roxas & Quirino had to deal with the Hukbalahap, a large anti-Japanese guerilla organization which became a militant group that discredited the ruling elite. The group was eventually put down by President Quirino's Secretary of Defense, Ramon Magsaysay.

- Quirino issued a proclamation granting amnesty to all members of the Hukbalahap.

- The Quirino administration's "Economic Mobilization Program" laid the groundwork for the country's modern industrial infrastructure. Access to credit finance was made easier for small businesses and rural communities, through a rural banking system, and the Industrial Peace Act and the Minimum Wage Law passed. He also made the appointment of the first woman to a Cabinet post - Asuncion Perez as Social Welfare Administrator.

- Quirino's decision to send in September 1950 a 5,000-strong Philippine expeditionary force to Korea in response to a call from the United Nations, improved his standing in Washington, D.C.

- With a fresh, direct mandate from the electorate, Apo Lakay pursued the reconstruction agenda with renewed vigor. He also showed bold thinking in international affairs. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, Nationalist Chinese president, visited Baguio in July 1949 upon his invitation.

- Troubled by the gains of the communist movements in China and Vietnam, Quirino proposed the formation of a "Pacific Union" among the free peoples of Asia, as a counterpart to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization just then created. He played host in May 1950 to the Asian Conference in Baguio, which was attended by Indonesia, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia.

Problems/Scandals

- Quirino was elected president in 1949, when, according to historians and newspaper