"The Golden Arinola"

 Mariano Quirino, a commissioned officer in the Spanish army, and Gregoria Rivera welcomed President Quirino into the world on November 16, 1890, in Vigan, Ilocos Sur. His parents gave him his first education. He enrolled in a private school to learn English grammar after they relocated to his mother's home province. After that, he moved to Aringay Elementary institution and eventually attended San Fernando, La Union, a provincial institution. The family went back to Vigan in 1904. Following that, Pidiong pursued his education in the town's high school before applying to teach at the Capariaan barrio school. 

Elpidio, who was fired with great passion, worked while pursuing his education in Manila. He began honing his oratory skills when he enrolled at Manila High School as a student. In order to pay his bills, he sketched and painted for magazines while working as a property clerk in the Manila police department.

He worked as a law clerk for the Philippine Commission, the upper house of the legislative system at the time, after graduating from the University of the Philippines in 1915 with a law degree. He transferred to the Philippine Senate after the Jones Act was approved in 1916, which replaced the Philippine Commission. He was appointed secretary by Manuel Quezon, the newly elected Senate President.

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His political career began in 1919 when he was elected as a representative in his Ilocos Sur congressional district.

Shortly after, on January 16, 1921, he wed Alicia Syquia, a member of a prosperous Vigan family. In February 1945, during the height of the Manila Liberation Campaign, his wife and three of their children were massacred by the Japanese. The President of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953, was alleged to have owned a "golden arinola" and was subject to controversy.

Quirino was elected senator in 1925 at the relatively young age of 35. In 1931, he was elected to a second six-year term. He accompanied Manuel Quezon on the Philippine independence trip to Washington, DC, in 1934. The Tydings-McDuffie Act, which established July 4, 1946 as the day of Philippine independence, was passed thanks to the mission's efforts. Additionally, he was chosen to serve on the conference that produced the new Philippine Commonwealth's constitution. He later held positions in the Commonwealth administration as secretary of the interior and secretary of finance.

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Under Manuel Roxas, the first president of the independent Philippines, he held the positions of Vice President and Secretary of Foreign Affairs following World War II. Quirino took over as president on April 15, 1948, following Roxas's death. The next year, he defeated Jose P. Laurel, the nominee of the Nacionalista, to win a four-year term as president on the Liberal Party ticket.

During his six years in office, Quirino oversaw significant postwar reconstruction, overall economic growth, and an increase in US financial assistance. He concentrated on two main objectives: complete economic mobilization and restoring public trust in the administration. He stepped up efforts to purge the corrupt from the government in order to accomplish the first goal. His second objective was to mobilize the nation's economic resources and usher in an era of industrialization by supporting the construction of many industrial units and projects at key locations throughout the nation.

The Burgos irrigation project in Zambales, the hydropower project in Lanao, the cement factory in Bacnotan, La Union, a network of roads throughout Mindanao, and numerous other new and essential enterprises that e
mployed thousands of people were some of these industrial accomplishments. The "Father of Philippine Industrialization" is Quirino as a result.

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In 1953, Quirino ran for reelection but was defeated by Ramon Magsaysay. Quirino traveled to Japan in May 1955, mostly to recuperate. He received a rousing welcome in return for his kind deed of amnesty to Japanese prisoners of war who were then serving their sentences at Muntinlupa while he was president.

Following his term, he moved to his new rural residence in Novaliches, where he passed away on February 28, 1956, from a heart attack.