Elpidio Rivera Quirino (Tagalog: [kiˈɾino]; November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 6th President of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953.

He was the third child of Mariano Quirino y Quebral of Caoayan, Ilocos Sur and Gregoria Rivera y Mendoza of Agoo, La Union.

Quirino was engaged in private law practice of until he was elected as member of the Philippine House of Representatives for Ilocos Sur's 1st congressional district from 1919 to 1922, succeeding Alberto Reyes.

In December 1945, the House Insular Affairs of the United States Congress approved the joint resolution setting the date of the election on not later than April 30, 1946.

Since Quirino was a widower, his surviving daughter, Victoria, would serve as the official hostess and perform the functions traditionally ascribed to the First Lady.

[9] The term Hukbalahap was a contraction of Hukbong Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon (in English: The Nation's Army Against the Japanese Soldiers), members of which were commonly referred to as Huks.

Indeed, after having been seated in Congress and collecting his back pay allowance, Huk leader Luis Taruc surreptitiously fled away from Manila, even as a number of his followers had either submitted themselves to the conditions of the Amnesty proclamation or surrendered their arms.

In the face of countercharges from the Huk to the effect that the government had not satisfied the agreed conditions, President Quirino ordered a stepped-up campaign against dissidents, restoring once more an aggressive policy in view of the failure of the friendly attitude previously adopted.

Speaker Eugenio Pérez appointed a committee of seven, headed by Representative Lorenzo Sumulong to look into the charges preparatory to their filing with the Senate, acting as an impeachment body.

[9] Following several hearings, on April 19, 1949, after a rather turbulent session that lasted all night, the congressional committee reached a verdict completely exonerating the President.

The first[9] Oriental to hold the position, Romulo was strongly supported by the Anglo-Saxon bloc, as well as by the group of Spanish-speaking nations,[9] thus underscoring the hybrid nature of the Filipino people's culture and upbringing.

[13] Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Manuel Moran administered the oath of office.In May 1950, upon the invitation of President Quirino and through the insistent suggestion of United Nations General Assembly President Romulo, official representatives of India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Thailand, Indonesia, and Australia met in Baguio for a regional conference sponsored by the Philippines.

Strangely enough however, the Baguio Conference ended with an official communiqué in which the nations attending the same expressed their united agreement in supporting the right to self-determination of all peoples the world over.

With the communist organization estimated to still have more than 40,000 duly registered members by March 1951, the government went on with its sustained campaign to cope with the worsening peace and order problem.

[9] In early January 1951, a communist plot to assassinate leading government officials was discovered following the seizure of documents in a rebel camp, which showed that 40 men had been hired for the plan.

[14][15][16] On January 24, four Chinese nationals—suspected would-be assassins—were arrested in a raid in Chinatown, Manila;[14][16] they were later held at Philippine Army headquarters at Camp Murphy.

[16] Intelligence sources reported that the plot was directed by Co Pak, a businessman who had been arrested[15][16] for allegedly supporting the Hukbalahap and his fellow communists in the country.

Other prominent Liberals including Vice President Fernando Lopez, Ambassador Carlos Romulo, and Senators Tomás Cabili and Juan Sumulong also bolted Quirino's party.

In connection to the first agenda, he created the President's Action Committee on Social Amelioration (PACSA) to mitigate the sufferings of indigent families, the Labor Management Advisory Board to advise him on labor matters, the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives Financing Administration (ACCFA) to help the farmers market their crops and save them from loan sharks, and the Rural Banks of the Philippines to facilitate credit utilities in rural areas.

During his six years in office, he and his Foreign Affairs Secretary, Helen Cutaran Bennett, was able to negotiate treaties and agreements with other nations of the Free World.

Two Asian heads of state visited the country—President Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China in July 1949 and President Sukarno of Indonesia in January 1951.

The military alliance remains to this day a key pillar of American foreign policy in Asia that also includes defense pacts with Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Australia.

In an apparent show of genuine forgiveness and an attempt to improve public relations with Japan, Quirino granted amnesty to all Japanese war criminals and Filipino collaborators who were serving time or on death row in the Philippines.

On a purely voluntary basis, the first contingent – the Tenth Battalion Combat Team – was formed under Colonel Azurin, and dispatched to Korea, where its members quickly won much renown for their military skill and bravery.

The name of Captain Jose Artiaga, Jr., heroically killed in action, stands out as a symbol of the country's contribution to the cause of freedom outside native shores.

Other Philippine Combat Teams successively replaced the first contingent sent, and they all built a name for discipline, tenacity, and courage, until the armistice that brought the conflict to a halt.

[9] The report made several proposals, most noteworthy, of which were that the United States on, President Quirino gamely and patriotically,[9] took in the recommendations and sought to implement them.

Several factors caused the unpopularity of his administration, namely:[25] Following his failed bid for re-election, Quirino retired to private life.

[27][28] On February 29, 2016, his remains were relocated and reinterred at a special tomb site in the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig, in time for the 60th anniversary of his death.

On February 9, 1945, his wife and three of their children (Armando, Norma and Fe Angela) were killed by Japanese troops as they fled their home during the Battle of Manila.