ELPIDIO QUIRINO THE UDGEMENT OF HISTORY BY SALVADOR P. LOPEZ Nationalist and Diplomat n 1990, thirty-six years after his death, on the occasion of the centennial anniversary of his birth, it is possible to examine objectively the life and career of President Elpidio Quirino, Iidentify his contributions to the country’s progress and development, and determine his standing among the makers of Philippine history. He did not wake up one morning to find himself at the pinnacle of power. He rose step by slow step from the lowest rung, and from this experience developed a degree of competence that was the envy of many and the reward of but a few. He was the first President to propose industrialization as the basic strategy for progress and development, in terms of concrete program action. He cherished and practiced the tenets of social justice and equity but not at the expense of individual rights, integrity, and self- respect. He was an intrepid nationalist committed heart and soul to the defense of his country and the advancement of the national welfare, whatever the cost. He favored the improvement of the life and welfare of the poor, the underprivileged, and the oppressed through peaceful reform, not by violent revolution. He initiated the policy of establishing more equitable and just relations between the Philippines and the United States, without subservience or domination. He strove to rectify the serious imbalance in the trade between the Philippines and the United States by imposing import controls, a radical measure which drove an American diplomat to make the arrogant and cynical comment: “The trouble with Quirino is that he is taking Philippine independence too seriously.” No Filipino President could wish or hope for a higher compliment than this. He died a man of modest means, having avoided the unprincipled use of power to amass the perquisites of wealth and privilege for selfish ends. iv THE JUDGEMENT OF HISTORY BY SALVADOR P. LOPEZ PRESIDENT ELPIDIO QUIRINO FOUNDATION The Judgment of History Copyright 1990 by Salvador P. Lopez and the President Elpidio Quirino Foundation. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, no part of this book may be reproduced without written permission of the author and the publisher. To My Beloved Wife Del ISBN-971-8759-01-8 (Hard Cover) ISBN0971-8789-00-X (Soft Cover) Cover design by Eva Farolan-Peñamora Typesetting and printing by Vera-Reyes, Inc. Photos from the collection of the Quirino Family, The National Historical Institute, and Mr. Honesto Vitug Time’s glory … is to unmask falsehood, and bring Truth to light. –Shakespeare. Contents Author’s Note ..........................................................................................xiii Chapter 1. History and Heritage. .............................................................1 Chapter 2. Where the Road Begins. ........................................................17 Chapter 3. Commonwealth to Republic. ..................................................31 Chapter 4. Diplomat and Nationalist. .....................................................47 Chapter 5. Ascent to the Top. ................................................................59 Chapter 6. Dimension of Power. ............................................................67 Chapter 7. Pride and Necessity. .............................................................79 Chapter 8. Reform or Revolution. .........................................................105 Chapter 9. Survival and Development. .................................................. 121 Chapter 10. The Quirino-Magsaysay Tandem. ..........................................133 Chapter 11. The 1953 Election. ................................................................145 Chapter 12. The Judgment of History. 1 ....................................................59 Acknowledgments. ......................................................................................173 THE JUDGEMENT OF HISTORY xiii Author’s Note of one generation separated me from him, denying me the privilege as teacher, journalist and diplomat of knowing him at close range. But as aide to General To write the Centennial Biography of Elpidio Quirino, Manuel A. Roxas in Corregidor and Mindanao during the President of the Republic of the Philippines (1948-1953) war, and as deputy to Dr. Carlos P. Romulo in the United is a privilege that in the very nature of things temporal, Nations after independence. I was able to observe from comes but once in a lifetime. The occasion is at once an a distance Quirino’s performance as Vice-President and opportunity, a challenge and a privilege – an opportunity later as President with admiration and respect. to sort out the tangled skein of truth that has twisted around an important figure of Philippine history, and This attitude I have conserved through the passing come out of the experience intellectually challenged and years, noting with an impartial eye the quality of emotionally rewarded. Quirino’s leadership and the measure of his performance, in the company of his peers from Roxas to Cory Aquino. The search for the genuine and enduring Quirino This was the sentiment I brought with me that day in persona constitutes a challenge in the sense that it January 1956 when I decided to go and pay my respects calls for a devotion to truth which can overcome the to him in his place of quiet retreat in Novaliches, Quezon temptations of hearsay and prejudice as well as the City. inducements of goodwill and charity. The truth lies somewhere in between. Salvador P. Lopez Elpidio Quirino was a strapping young man of twenty- September 14, 1990 one when I was born in Currimao, Ilocos Norte, a small town midway between Vigan and Laoag. Thus, a gap xiv THE JUDGEMENT OF HISTORY THE JUDGEMENT OF HISTORY xv CHAPTER 1 History and Heritage nder Spanish colonial rule, Vigan enjoyed a status of preeminence. Juan de Salcedo made it the base of his conquest of Northern Luzon, changing its native name to Villa Fernandina in Uhonor of Prince Fernando, first-born son of King Philip II. Subsequently, it began to attract foreign settlers who imposed on the houses they built for themselves the images of their native land, thus enriching Vigan’s language and culture. Some of the Spaniards and Mexicans who came aboard the galleons that plied annually between Manila an Acapulco in the 17th century and who later settled in the Pampanga River Valley around the town of Masantol and Macabebe also found their way to Vigan. By 1810, Tomas de Comyn, factor of the Compania Real de Filipinas, estimated that there were about 12,000 mestizos in Ilocos, some of Spanish but mostly of Chinese origin out of a population of about 250,000. Some of these families had been in Vigan as early as 1800, living in a district separate from that of the naturales or native inhabitants. xvi THE JUDGEMENT OF HISTORY THE JUDGEMENT OF HISTORY n 1 regime. At the same time, the Indios or naturals, realizing that In the last decade of the 19th century, the Spanish Queen he had become an important component of the economy, proclaimed Vigan Ciudad Muy Noble y Real (Very Noble and also started to seek redress of grievances against laws which Royal City), the distinguished title that had been given to they had previously accepted as part of the natural order of Manila at the inception of Spanish colonial rule. Vigan was things. the seat of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia, with a seminario- These developments in the relationship between social colegial, a girls’ school, and an ayuntamiento or autonomous classes were most dramatically acted out in Vigan where the town council. different sectors of society had become so factionalized as to present a serious problem to the national administration. William Henry Scott describes most of the town in the Ilocos by mid-18th century as one-street villages in which the At the beginning of 1889, El Comercio reported an increase residential houses, warehouses, stores, and markets were of “evildoers” around Caoayan, which compelled the strung along the main highway. Vigan was an exception. It governor to order the town mayors to apprehend farmers had 16 blocks of cobblestone streets and elegant residences. “who appropriated as much as they could against landlords’ wishes”. On February 17, men entered the convent in Tagudin The houses in the mestizo district were imposing two-story and attacked Fray Mariano Ortiz, leaving him for dead with 12 buildings. The first floor of these residences was laid out with body wounds; and on 3 September 1891, a man walked into granite slabs; at the center was the patio. Within this space the office of the assistant forester in Vigan, pistol in hand, there is a well for watering the flowering plants in celadon jars and calmly shot him and a guest in the groin. In 1893, all arranged around stone lions and jade dragons from China. the barangay headmen of the neighboring town on Bantay Unlike houses in other town of the Philippines, the residences demonstrated against the requirement of covering the taxes in Vigan had no balconies; they were built for solidity and of absentees and deceased; in 1887 a popular uprising against permanence. Light came from sliding windows made of the excesses of Fray Saturnino Pinto’s querida caused him to translucent squares of thin oyster shells or capiz. be transferred. Entrance to these houses was through a door opening from the street into the ground floor which served as stall for the El Comercio reported that the attack on the government family’s