President Corazon C. Aquino Tribute To President Elpidio Quirino

Message of President Corazon C. Aquino on the occasion of the Centenary of President Elpidio Quirino.

I am pleased to join the family, friends and the rest of our countrymen in paying honor to President Elpidio Quirino on the occasion of his birth centenary this year.

I am pleased to join the family, friends and the rest of our countrymen in paying honor to President Elpidio Quirino on the occasion of his birth centenary this year.

Among those who have preceded me in the presidency, I feel the greatest sense of kinship with President Quirino. Those who are familiar with his presidency would readily recognize the many similarities between our administrations.

 

Among those who have preceded me in the presidency, I feel the greatest sense of kinship with President Quirino

 

I know how it must have been for him to lead a nation devastated by war and faced with the task of economic recovery. Yet from the ruins of war, he built our nation to progress and a brighter future calling on the unity, industry, and resilience of our people. Indeed, I fully understand his struggle for national strength and security as he vigorously steered this nation, plagued as it was by a communist insurgency, towards greater peace and stability. In the process, he restored the faith of the people in government and also convinced those in government to focus, not on politics, but on the more urgent, nobler task at hand.

 

Yet from the ruins of war, he built our nation to progress and a brighter future calling on the unity, industry, and resilience of our people.

 

President Quirino’s success in overcoming all these challenges serves as an inspiration of my administration. His achievements reaffirm my faith in the ability of our people to transcend present difficulties and share an unflagging commitment to build a strong and therefore truly independent Philippines. By looking back to his time, I find comforting continuity to our national purpose, and the impetus to work forward to a nation worthy of his vision and legacy.

 

…he restored the faith of the people in government and also convinced those in government to focus, not on politics, but on the more urgent, nobler task at hand.

 

Truly President Quirino is a great man worthy of honor and remembrance by present and future generations of Filipinos. Let us pay special tribute to him during his centenary so significantly observed during the Decade of Nationalism and the Decade of Peace; and grateful acknowledge his role in our nations’ history.

 

Corazon C. Aquino
President of the Republic of the Philippines

 

Source : Souvenir Programme, Elpidio Quirino : Parangal at Ala-ala sa Isang Pangulo (Manila: President Elpidio Quirino Foundation, May 9, 1990), p 2