 Then President Elpidio Quirino and his defense secretary, Ramon Magsaysay, graced the event.Among the other prominent guests were senators, congressmen, Cabinet members, diplomats, school officials and representatives of the country’s top universities and colleges.Magsaysay would have returned to Reimer’s Hall on April 5, 1955, as Philippine president during the golden jubilee and graduation programs, but he died in a plane crash on March 17, 1955.