At The Lap Of My Father

A PURPOSEFUL LIFE

This year marks a year-long cele bration of the centennial year of my father starting with an exhib it on view – “Pen, Paper, and Book making: The Life of Carlos Quirino” at the Yuchengco Mu seum from Feb. 18 to April 10.

The exhibit showcases his craft with a display of over 130 items that come from the Quirino family archives and some never seen before photographs, manu scripts and other works, hand- and typewritten notes, letters, diaries, a few memorabilia, and several rare books from his vast per sonal library. My father lived a purposeful and full life (1910-1999) until it was time for him to move on at the ripe age of 89.

In his time with us, he was not just a writer – a craft he loved and fastidiously cultivated, but also a much widely-travelled man-of-the-world, a  newsman and editor, avid sportsman, an expert marksman, a decorated soldier, a lawyer, a diplomat, goverment official, director of a national library and founding curator of a private museum. He accomplished much and excelled in every one of them.

I remember my father, more than anything else, for being a warm, thoughtful, caring, extremely patient and engaging parent, a fair and meticulous observer of people and events, quietly retrospect in dispensing advise to people, a man of understanding doubly blessed with wisdom. He was a role model to emulate by fortunate circumstances of proximity but treasured more in light of the fact that he himself was orphaned at the very young age of three when his own father, Dr. Jose Quirino – an eminent physician schooled in Berlin , died at the wheel of a fatal car accident while driving on pilgrimage with his family to the shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage in Antipolo, Rizal.

RIGOUR OF SCHOLARSHIP

His contribution as a historian is probably the most important aspect of his public persona. As far as the rigour of his scholarship was concerned and the importance other people ascribe to his body of work as a scholar, his con-tributions to a country he both loved and defended with his life have become valuable as historical documents.

He was prodigious in his output over several decades – hundreds of published (and unpublished) articles on various topics of interest and several dozen books and booklets on Philippine history and culture. Some notable libraries such as the National Library of Australia and the U.S. Library of Congress retain a good collection of some of his published works in their own archives.

Towards the much latter part of his remarkable life, in 1997, he was awarded the National Artist for Historical Literature from a grateful nation.

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A National Artist of the Philippines is a title awarded to Filipinos, bestowing the highest recognition for having helped build a sense of nationhood through the content and form of their works; creating a significant body of works and/or have consistently displayed excellence in the practice of their art form; who enjoy broad accept ance through prestigious national and/or international recognition, awards in prestigious national and/or inter national events, critical acclaim and/or reviews of their works; and respect and esteem from peers within an artistic discipline. 

Such awardees are announced, by virtue of a Presidential Proclamation, as National Artist, and are conferred membership in the Order of National Artists – the regalia of which is an ornate, gilded collar of honor. In addition to the collar, each newly proclaimed member of the Order is given a citation that is presented during the awardees’ conferment ceremonies.

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Most people I know remember my father foremost as a writer – having initially claimed fame for a prize-winning biography he wrote of Manuel L. Quezon ‘Man of Destiny’ in 1935 when he was just 25 years old.

That publication was soon followed by the first English biography of Jose Rizal entitled “The Great Malayan” in 1938 along with other notable works after World War II (he was at the time engaged as a Captain in the United States Army Forces in the Far East under the command of Major Gen. Douglas MacArthur fiercly fighting off contingents of the advancing forces of the Japanese Imperial Army at the Battle of Bataan) that include, among others: “Magsaysay of the Philippines” (1958); the ground-breaking first edition of “Philippine Cartography” (1959), a landmark history of Phil ippine maps and their cartographers; “Damian Domingo: First Eminent Filipino Painter” (1961); “Regésto Guión Catálogo de los Docu mentos Existentes en México Sobre Filipi nas” (1965); ”Pigafeta: The Introduction to the First Voyage Around The World” (1969); “The Young Agui-naldo: From Kawit to Biyák na bató” (1969); ”Quezon: Paladin of Philippine Freedom” (1971); and the ”History of the Philippine Sugar Industry” (1974).

To cap what was the long decade of the 1970′s,  the  closing years saw him then more fully en gaged as a member of the Board of Advisers and  also as an Associate Editor for the Filipino Heri tage Project  together with its Editor-in-Chief,  Dr. Alfredo ‘Ding’  Roces. The Project boasted of  a talented  editorial staff which included noted writer Gilda Cordero Fernando; Manuel Gutierrez and Godofredo Burce Bunao as sub-editors; book design artists Ben Cabrera (Bencab) and Porfirio Castañeda as art directors; Felice P. Sta Maria and Antonia L. Brucelas, pict ure research ers; Corazon S. Alvina, produc tion manager; and, Ma. Socor ro E. Honorio, business mana ger. Filipino Her itage was orig inally intended as a part works series to appear weekly as a supplement to the Manila Times. The project’s originator was an Australian publishing house called The Hamlyn Group (now the Octopus Publishing Group which publishes under a subsidiary company by the name Hatchette in Australia and New Zealand). They had successfully produced Australia’s Heritage and New Zealand’s Heritage in previous years. Ultimately, Filipino Heritage appeared in print as a 10-volume series set of books in 1979 – 186 contributors covered 593 topics in 2,800 fully illustrated pages.

The Board was a notable colla boration of luminaries with im pressive credentials such as Chair man, Carlos P. Romulo (Secretary of Foreign Affairs), members Godofredo L. Alcasid (Director of the National Museum); Horacio de la Costa SJ (General Assistant and Consultant to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus); Robert B. Fox (Technical Assistant on Anthropology – Office of the President National Museum); Lucrecia Kasilag (Director, Theater of The Performing Arts – Cultural Center of the Philippines); Benito Legarda Jr. (Special Assistant to the Governor On Economic Research, Central Bank of the Philippines); Jose Maceda (Professor of Philosophy and Political Science, University of the Philippines); Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil (Jour nalist Expressweek); Louie O. Reyes (President of Vera Reyes Press, Inc.); and, Liceria Brillantes Soriano (Director of Public Schools).

The 1980’s and 1990’s were equally productive. His next project, “Italians in the Philippines” (1980) – based largely on three lectures held at the University of the Philippines in July 1980 with  Esteban A. de Ocampo and Giuliano Bertuccioli, may seem to be a bit out of character considering 377-years of Spanish rule in the archipelago. Writing about Italians may have had something to do obliquely with questions I raised at the dinner table one evening regarding the origins of our family name. Why was that surname nowhere found in an alphabetical list – the ‘Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos’, arising from a Decree issued in November 1849 by Governor General Narciso Claveria which required all indigenous colonial subjects to adopt Spanish surnames such as Quesada or Quezon? Likewise, why was the surname Quirino not also found either in any list of indigenous names prior to the Claveria Decree? 

It turns out that my father’s surname ‘Quirino’ was not entirely Spanish or Malay to begin with. Inheriting the name from his father, Dr. Jose A. Quirino (1888-1913), his grandfather Vicente Quirino (1835-1911) and earlier ancestors passed that same surname down the genealogical line to him even prior to the issuance of the Decree. Vicente, therefore, was not affected by the Decree as an inhabitant living in the Philippines at the time of its issuance. 

The Spanish surname Quirino is ultimately of Italian origin. It is a patronymic surname – that is, derived from the father of the initial bearer of the name which is, in this case, from the Latin “Quirinius” believed to be of an ancient Roman noble family who settled in the area of Dongo in Como northern Italy, near the Swiss border. A scion of that family apparently migrated to Spain during or perhaps after the Roman conquest of Hispania (now Spain) and one of his male descendants to the Phil ippines in the late 1700’s.

MOVERS AND SHAPERS

During the  remaining  two decades of his multi-faceted life my father’s main interest was authoring biographies of notable movers and shapers of Philippine history in the 20^th century. Most of them were his contemporaries and some where close friends and associates.  

A list of these works include  his “Earl Carroll: Colossus of Philippine Ins-urance” (1980); ”Filipinos at War” (1981); Amang: The Life and Times of Eulogio Rodriguez Sr.” (1983); “Chick Parsons: America’s Master Spy in the Phil ippines” (1984); “Why The 1896 Philippine Revolution Failed” (1986); “La Salle: 1911-1986” (1986); “Ramon Durano: The Story of the Foremost Filipino Phil anthropist” (1986); “Apo Lakay: The biography of President Elpidio Quirino of the Philippines” (1987); “Philippine Tycoon: The Biography of an Industrialist, Vicente Madrigal” (1987); “The Laurel Story: The Life and Times of Dr. Jose P. Laurel – President of the Second Republic of the Philippines” (1992); and, “Who’s Who in Philippine History” (1995). But even with these, he still managed to leave behind a good number of unpublished works which may meet the printing presses posthumously some day. 

AT THE LAP OF MY FATHER

John Dewey, an American philosopher and educational reformer, once re-marked that, “the only freedom that is of enduring importance is the freedom of intelligence, that is to say, freedom of observation and of judgment, exer-cised in behalf of purposes that are intrinsically worthwhile.” In that res-pect, I believe, Carlos Lozada Quirino was one such man who exercised it.

Two of some many important lessons I learned at the lap of my father are: not to try to become a man of success but rather, to try and become a man of value; and, that a person who loses his conscience has nothing left worth keeping. We are all something, but none of us are everything. Now, as he is gone but still remembered, perhaps it may be also apt for me to say that all those ‘somethings’ he wrote along the pathway of his life may indeed help in measuring up his value as a man of substance.  

In closing, I leave below just these few more lines because it summarizes much of what I think about a man I am fortunate to be associated as a son.

They know that true greatness needs no praise

It is found in the day-to-day living of unwearied goodness

They have seen their father give.

Such goodness is truly a remarkable thing,

Far greater than any glory found in the annals of history.

For one day the child will say: ‘He is my father’

And know it is an honor.    — Joseph D. Jensen

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NOTE: Alongside the exhibit, Vibal Foundation (VFI), the non-profit arm of Vibal Publishing House, launches a coffee-table reprint of  ”Philippine Cartography”, first published in a limited edition, and published a second time in 1963 in Amsterdam, the third edition of Philippine Cartography now showcases more than 120 maps from the finest collections in the Philippines and the most comprehensive bibliography of Philippine maps. This edition also contains a fresh and authoritative introduction by map collector and scholar Dr. Leovino Ma. Garcia. You can also continue viewing Part 2 and Part 3 of the video embedded in this post by clicking the links provided.