President Aquino attends reinterment of President Quirino’s remains to Libingan ng mga Bayani

President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III joins the funeral march to the gravesite during the Transfer and Reinternment of the remains of the late President Elpidio Quirino at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City (February 29, 2016). (Photo by Rey Baniquet/Malacañang Photo Bureau)

MANILA, Feb. 29 – President Benigno S. Aquino III on Monday attended the reinterment of the remains of the country’s sixth President Elpidio Quirino at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

Upon his arrival, President Aquino was given a 21-gun salute. He waited for the arrival of the funeral motorcade carrying the remains of President Quirino from the Manila South Cemetery, where he was buried in simple rites 60 years ago.

President Aquino then joined the funeral march to the gravesite together with the Quirino family, members of the Diplomatic Corps, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Romeo Tanalgo, Army Chief Maj. Gen. Eduardo Año, Air Force Chief Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Delgado, and Navy Flag Officer Rear Admiral Caesar Taccad.

When they arrived at the gravesite, President Aquino and the descendants of Quirino stood in front of the grave, while the pallbearers positioned the casket on top of the tomb as confetti of leaves and flowers were dropped from a helicopter.

Philippine Army Chief Chaplain, Col. Andres Bonifacio Bellesa, conducted the benediction, which was followed by the taking out of the urn from the casket.

The urn was passed around Quirino’s descendants until it reached Socorro Alicia Quirino, one of the trustees of the President Elpidio Quirino Foundation (PEQF), who laid it down to the urn receptacle.

The commander of the pallbearers turned over the folded Philippine flag to the honorary pallbearers, who passed it among themselves starting from Lt. Gen. Tanalgo.

President Aquino received the folded flag and handed it over to Eduardo Quirino, the grandson of Quirino.

Also present were former president Fidel Ramos; National Historical Commission of the Philippines Chairperson Maria Serena Diokno and Executive Director Ludovico Badoy; Taguig City Mayor Ma. Laarni Cayetano; and PEQF president Atty. Aleli Angela Quirino, and trustees Ruby Quirino Gonzalez and Louie Quirino Gonzalez.

Quirino served as president from 1948 to 1953; as vice president and secretary of foreign affairs (1946-1948); Senate president (1945-1946), senator (1925-1931, 1931-1935, 1941-1946); secretary of interior and finance (1935-1938); member of the House of Representatives from the First District of Ilocos Sur (1919-1925); delegate to the Constitutional Convention (1934); and member of the Philippine Independence Commission in Washington, DC (1934).

Quirino’s legacies included the setting up of rural banks for farmers and the creation of the Social Security Study Commission. He also enacted laws on minimum wage, eight-hour work, standardization of teachers’ salaries and making Quezon City as the capital of the Philippines. He also established the Central Bank of the Philippines in 1948.