Remembering President Elpidio Quirino
The question on everybody’s lips is: Who will be our next president when the incumbent steps down in 2016? The next question: Who will you vote for?
The answer is almost always the same: “I don’t know.” Names are offered. Will it be Jojo Binay? Chiz Escudero? Grace Poe? Allan Peter Cayetano? Miriam Defensor-Santiago? Ping Lacson? Dick Gordon? The answer: “I don’t know yet.”
So we all wait for the right time to finally choose the 16th president of the Republic. We all know how difficult the president’s job is, but people still want the job — crazy, no? But we know too, that some people want power, and once they have it, they’re likely not to give it up. Except for the late President Cory Aquino, who said she didn’t want to run again; she kept her word, and enjoyed being called Private Citizen Cory.
While mulling over the day’s issues — the fate of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, China’s intransigence, the poisoned milk tea that caused the death of innocent drinkers, the killings left and right of us — oh so many disturbing goings-on — I received an invitation to the celebration of President Elpidio Quirino’s 125th birth anniversary on April 17, at which date the President Elpidio Quirino Foundation is launching Ako Pilipino!, an advocacy campaign aimed at celebrating three positive values that the late president espoused in his inaugural address. These values are: tolerance, goodwill and love. These three values, according to the Quirino Foundation organizers, “became the backbone of his leadership and, in retrospect, the guiding principles of his humanity.”
Like most of my readers, I was a toddler when Quirino was sworn in as the 6th president of the Republic. The ascension of presidents that followed, and the political configurations during the past decades, have muffled our knowledge of the type of leadership Quirino adopted. Some critics decry the supposed corruption that took place during his time, but I have not come upon literature detailing the nature of the presidentially approved ransacking of government coffers. We’re told that his detractors have, and still make much, of his having used a golden
orinola ( bedpan). So what? He was president, and, if the charge was true, which I doubt very much, deserved comfortable seating amenities. What was so immoral about that, compared with brazen violation(s) by national leaders of a monogamous Christian society’s one-man-one-wife rule?
But enough of that. For readers who might not know who EQ was, here are some facts about him. He was born in Vigan, Ilocos Sur on Nov. 16, 1890, to Mariano Quirino, a warden at a provincial jail, and Gregoria Mendoza Rivera Quirino. He graduated from elementary school in Caoayan. A bright student, Elpidio became a barrio teacher while studying at Vigan High School. He finished law at the UP College of Law. He died in Quezon City on Feb. 28, 1956.
He was elected to the Philippine Congress from 1919 to 1925, and to the Senate from 1925 to 1931. He was a member of the Philippine independence commission that went to Washington, D.C, to secure the passage of the Tydings-McDuffie Act in the American Congress. In 1935, he was elected to the convention that drafted the 1935 Constitution for the newly established Commonwealth. In the new government, he served as secretary of the interior and finance under President Manuel Quezon’s cabinet.
Quirino’s star shone even brighter when after World war II, he was elected vice president in the 1946 election, and the Liberal Party candidate and then- Senate President Manuel Roxas, was elected president. Then he became president upon the sudden death of President Roxas in 1948. In the next election, he won the presidency, vice Nacionalista vice president and former President Jose P. Laurel.
An Internet source briefly notes that for six years as president, Quirino over-
saw postwar reconstruction, “but his administration suffered from corruption.” Another source said however much as Quirino tried to become a good president, he failed to win the people’s affection. Factors that contributed to his unpopularity included the failure of his government to check the Huk menace which made travel in the provinces unsafe, such that the former First Lady Aurora Quezon and her companions were mowed down by the Huks on the Bongabong-Baler road in Baler, Tayabas.
On August 22, 1953, Nacionalista and Democratic parties formed a coalition to ensure Quirino’s defeat. On election day, Quirino was defeated by an auto mechanic, Ramon Magsaysay, who had become popular on account of his anti-Hukbalahap campaign.
On Friday, admirers of the late president will be presenting data showing his accomplishments, and the realization of his espousal of three goals: tolerance, goodwill and love. By the way, before he was elected president, he became a widower with the death of his wife and two daughters, leaving him a third daughter, Vicky Gonzales, to assume the role of First Lady.
* * * An interesting summit held over the weekend presented a new type of teaching children that is so different from the traditional mode which many of us underwent. Our experiences, we recall, had us learning by memory, not asking too many questions that irritated teachers and parents, not to be creative, and so forth and so on.
According to educational experts we listened to, “The information revolution that has shaped modern society requires parents to rethink how their children should approach learning. Effective learning requires a child to take an active approach in understanding concepts and to succeed, the child is required to apply the knowledge he/she has learned to solve the problems of today and create innovative solutions.”
The two speakers talking about this revolutionary method of teaching were David Chem, founder and CEO of MindChamps, and Brian Casell, a world-renowned educationist. The two have developed a 3-Mind Revolution framework to guide parents and childhood educators help children thrive in this-ever-changing and increasingly complex world.
Chiem and Caswell shared how the 3-Mind Revolution framework, which emphasizes the development of three distinct minds (i.e. the learning mind, the creative mind, and the champion mind), can help develop successful 21st century creative learners.
The Champion Mind, according to Chiem and Caswell in their best-selling book, “The 3-Mind Revolution,” is a way of thinking which prepares the individual, mentally, for success. It is built from equal parts of emotional intelligence, communication skills, self-awareness and self-confidence.
The term “Champion Mindset” was coined by Professor Allan Snyder, founder of the Centre for the Mind at the University of Sydney. His breakthrough discovery is that the Champion Mindset is not some mysterious quality only present in a few lucky individuals, but can actually be learned.
Chiem spoke of three qualities that set champions apart: abhorrence of being ordinary, willingness to transcend conventional wisdom, and developing the ability to accept and learn from adversity. On the other hand, Caswell spoke of developing in children a love of learning through play.
What these experts are preaching with infectious enthusiasm will be demonstrated in the MindChamps International preschool that will open at Fort Bonifacio (20th Drive, McKinley Business Park), in June. Enrollment is going on. The MindChamps International School is the only pre-school globally to nurture children with the Champion Mindset. It offers academic and enrichment programs for children from 18 months to 6 years old in the playground, nursery and kindergarten levels. Its programs ensures facilitating the transition of kindergarten level children from preschool to primary school.