Manuel Acuña Roxas (January 1, 1892 – April 15, 1948) was the fifth President of the Philippines who served from 1946 until his death in 1948.
Roxas was married to Trinidad de Leon at Our Lady of Remedies Church located at Barangay Sibul, San Miguel, Bulacan in 1921. The couple had two children, Ma. Rosario ("Ruby"), who married Vicente Roxas (no relation) and Gerardo Manuel ("Gerry"), who married Judy Araneta.
Roxas occupied several important positions in the Philippine government than any other Filipino had ever held before him. Starting in 1917 he was a member of the municipal council of Capiz. Then he became the youngest governor of his province and served in this capacity from 1919 to 1922. In 1922 he was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives, and for twelve consecutive years, he was elected as Speaker of the House. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention from 1934 to 1935, Secretary of Finance, Chairman of the National Economic Council, Chairman of the National Development Company and many other government corporations and agencies, Brigadier General in the USAFFE, Recognized Guerilla leader and Military leader of the Philippine Commonwealth Army. After the amendments to the 1935 Philippine Constitution were approved in 1941, he was elected (1941) to the Philippine Senate, but was unable to serve until 1945 because of the outbreak of World War II.
Prior to the Philippine national elections of 1946, at the height of the last Commonwealth elections, Senate President Roxas and his friends left from the Nacionalista Party and formed the Liberal Party. Roxas became their candidate for President and Elpidio Quirino for Vice-President. The Nacionalistas, on the other hand, had Osmeña for President and Senator Eulogio Rodriguez for Vice-President. Roxas had the staunch support of General MacArthur. Osmeña refused to campaign, saying that the Filipino people knew his reputation. On April 23, 1946, Roxas won 54% of the vote, and the Liberal Party won a majority in the legislature.
Roxas served as the President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in a brief period, from May 28, 1946 to July 4, 1946 during which time Roxas helped prepared the groundwork for an independent Philippines. On May 8, 1946, prior to his inauguration, President-elect Roxas, accompanied by US High Commissioner Paul V. McNutt, left for the United States. On May 28, 1946, Roxas was inaugurated as the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. On June 3, 1946, Roxas appeared for the first time before a joint session of Congress to deliver his first State of the Nation Address.
Roxas term as the President of the Commonwealth ended on the morning of July 4, 1946, when the Third Republic of the Philippines was inaugurated and independence from the United States proclaimed.
During his presidency, his country was facing near bankruptcy. There was no national economy, no export trade. There was need of immediate aid from the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. He met the situation with the same confidence he exuded in his inaugural address, when he said that the system of free but guided enterprise is our system. Among the main remedies proposed was the establishment of the Philippine Rehabilitation Finance Corporation. Another proposal was the creation of the Central Bank of the Philippines to help stabilize the Philippine dollar reserves and coordinate and the nations banking activities gearing them to the economic progress. He proclaimed the Rice Share Tenancy Act of 1933 effective throughout the country. However problems of land tenure continued. In fact these became worse in certain areas. Among the remedial measures enacted was Republic Act No. 1946 likewise known as the Tenant Act which provided for a 70–30 sharing arrangements and regulated share-tenancy contracts. It was passed to resolve the ongoing peasant unrest in Central Luzon. On January 28, 1948, he granted full amnesty to all so-called Philippine collaborators, many of whom were on trial or awaiting to be tried, particularly former President Jose P. Laurel (1943–1945).
Although Roxas was successful in getting rehabilitation funds from the United States after independence, he was forced to concede military bases (23 of which were leased for 99 years), trade restriction for the Philippine citizens, and special privileges for U.S. property owner and investor. On March 11, 1947, Philippine voters, agreeing with Roxas, ratified in a nationwide plebiscite the "parity amendment" to the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines, granting United States citizens the right to dispose of and utilize Philippine natural resources, or parity rights. On the night before the plebiscite, Roxas narrowly escaped assassination by Julio Guillen, a disgruntled barber from Tondo, Manila, who hurled a grenade at the platform on Plaza Miranda immediately after Roxas had addressed a rally.
The good record of Roxas administration was marred by two failures: the failure to curb graft and corruption in the government, as evidenced by the Surplus War Property scandal, the Chinese immigration scandal and the School supplies scandal; and the failure to check and stop the communist Hukbalahap movement.
Roxas did not finish his full four-year term. On the morning of April 15, 1948 Roxas delivered a speech before the United States Thirteenth Air Force. After the speech, he felt dizzy and was brought to the residence of Major General E.L. Eubank at Clark Field, Pampanga. He died later that night of a heart attack. Roxas' term as President is thus the third shortest, lasting one year, ten months, and 18 days. On April 17, 1948, two days after Roxas' death, Vice-President Elpidio Quirino took the oath of office as President of the Philippines. In his honour Roxas, Oriental Mindoro, the first to be named as such, Roxas, Capiz, President Roxas, Capiz, President Roxas, Cotabato, and Roxas, Isabela were named after him. Dewey Boulevard in the City of Manila was renamed in his memory, and he is currently depicted on the 100 Philippine peso bill.
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