The name Roxas no longer enjoys its luster, almost three quarters of a century after the patriarch of the political family occupied Malacañang in 1946. After the 2nd World War, Manuel Acuña Roxas was at the zenith of his political power. He founded and organized the Liberal Party (LP), the political vehicle that catapulted him to the presidency of our country.
In a convention held on January 19, 1946 in Santa Ana Cabaret, attended by more than 3,000 delegates, Roxas was unanimously proclaimed as the standard bearer of the party, with Senator Elpidio Quirino as the vice-presidential bet. Roxas’ acceptance speech was an oratorical masterpiece, which sent his supporters into orbit. The LP steamrollered the ruling Nacionalista Party bannered by the Grand Old Man of Cebu, President Sergio Osmeña Sr. Osmeña’s running mate, Senator Eulogio Rodriguez, also lost. The name Roxas spelled magic at the polls and he carried his partymates to victory around the country. The LP became the dominant political party staying in power for the next eight years. Roxas briefly served as the 3rd and last President of the Philippine Commonwealth, which ended with the promulgation of Philippine Independence on July 4, 1946. Then he served as the first President of the 3rd Philippine Republic after we gained our independence from the US. Before that, Roxas served as Speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate President. Despite his significant accomplishments, I doubt if anyone outside his family and his home province of Capiz still remembers Roxas on his 128h birthday anniversary.
Roxas was born on New Year’s Day of 1892 in Capiz to Gerardo Roxas and Rosario Acuña. Roxas was married to Trinidad de Leon of Bulacan. He had a son, Gerardo, and a daughter, Ruby. Gerardo served as Representative of Capiz and later as a Senator of the Philippines. He was President Diosdado P. Macapagal’s running mate in the 1965 presidential election, but he narrowly lost to Fernando Lopez by a slim margin of 26,724 votes. Roxas’ two grandsons, Gerardo (Dinggoy) and Manuel (Mar) both entered politics. Dinggoy died while serving in Congress representing Capiz. Mar eventually succeeded him in office and later was elected Senator. He also served in the cabinets of Presidents Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Noynoy Aquino. Mar had an unsuccessful run for the presidency where he only came up second to President Duterte in 2016. Three successive generations of Roxas had played prominent roles in our government spanning over a century of public service. They all stood for clean and honest government, preserving their good name untarnished by personal corruption and political greed. In 1923, the progenitor of the political family, Speaker Roxas resigned from his powerful post as a member of the council of state to lead the protest against US Governor General Leonard Wood’s action in handling the so-called Conley case. Ray Conley was an American secret service detective who was accused of bribery and other charges but was cleared and reinstated into service by Wood. Roxas was joined by the Filipinos in Wood’s Cabinet who resigned en masse thereby creating a “cabinet crisis” in the Philippine government at that time. When Wood accepted Roxas’ resignation, he was reported to have declared: “I was removed from my position but fell into the hands of our people.” Similarly, his grandson and namesake Mar left as the Secretary of Trade and Industry under President Erap Estrada in the wake of the jueteng scandal, which ultimately ended with the ouster of Erap from Malacañang. A fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.
After liberation, many important decisions fell into the hands of General Douglas MacArthur, an imperious man dubbed the American Caesar. He regarded Osmeña as too slow and deliberative. The main problems facing the country were rehabilitation, reconstruction and the issue of collaboration. What the nation needed was a younger, bold leader and a man of action. In the eyes of many Filipinos, Roxas was that person. He was acclaimed as the man of the hour and the ideal person needed to lead the country’s recovery from the rubbles of the war. Roxas declared his candidacy for the presidency and with
MacArthur, High Commissioner Paul McNutt and Quezon’s widow, Aurora Aragon Quezon, behind him, Roxas enjoyed a decisive advantage over Osmeña. When Roxas was elected president, he resolved the issue of collaboration by proclaiming amnesty to all political prisoners. It was a great move to heal our divided nation and to acknowledge the sacrifices of our leaders led by Jose P. Laurel who served under the Japanese puppet government to protect the interests of the Filipinos and lessen the impact of Japanese occupation. They were patriots who got their vindication directly from their countrymen who elected them overwhelmingly in public office in the elections following the war. He also declared a general amnesty of those guerillas who killed in pursuance of their objectives to defeat the enemy. In his proclamation, he announced that: “It is not only unjust but most ungrateful on the part of our Republic to allow these brave and patriotic men to be subjected to the indignity of a criminal prosecution for acts which they committed…to resist the enemy and to help in winning the war.”
Roxas died on April 15, 1948 at the age of 56. He suffered a heart attack after delivering a fiery speech before the US 13th Air Force in Clark Field, Pampanga where he correctly sensed the winds of war blowing in China, in Korea and in Eastern Europe: “If war should come, I am certain of one thing… and it is this…the Americans and the Filipinos will be found on the same side and will again fight side by side in the same trenches or in the air in defense of justice, of freedom, and the other principles which we both love and cherish.”