MANILA, Philippines - Sixty-six years ago, Manuel Acuña Roxas died at Clark Air Base, Pampanga just hours after delivering an impassioned speech championing the cause of liberty, justice, and democracy in the country.
The tragic news of his death on April 15, 1948 shocked the nation. Scarcely two years into his presidency, Roxas left a grief-stricken family and country. He was 56 years old.
Born in Capiz (now Roxas City), Capiz in 1892, Manuel was the younger of two sons of Gerardo Roxas and Rosario Acuña, both descended from distinguished clans in Western Visayas. He was a posthumous baby, his father having been senselessly shot and killed by Spanish soldiers a few months before he was born.
The young Roxas spent basic education in Capiz, Hong Kong, and Manila. He had initially planned to study medicine at the University of Santo Tomas, but later decided to take up law at the University of the Philippines.
To support himself through his studies, he prepared briefs of cases assigned in class and sold these notes to his classmates. While excelling in academics, he was also active in campus politics as president of the UP Student Council. He graduated in 1913 as president and valedictorian of the first class of the UP College of Law.
Roxas was the country’s first Bar topnotcher, topping the Bar exams that were given first in English and then again in Spanish. After a brief stint as a trial lawyer, he served in the office of Supreme Court Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano while teaching in a law school at the same time.
The death of his maternal grandfather, Eleuterio Acuña, forced him to return to Capiz. In 1919, he handily won the local elections in his province and became the youngest governor at 27 years old. He was also elected chairman of the National Convention of Provincial Governors.
In 1922, Roxas was elected as representative of the first district of Capiz, beating more experienced politicians. He was later elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, a post he held for 12 years.
In the years that followed, he and Sergio Osmeña led the campaign for Philippine independence in Washington. By 1932, they secured the passage of the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Law from the US Congress that granted Philippine independence.
The Philippine Congress, however, under the leadership of President Manuel Quezon, rejected it. Worse, Roxas was ousted from the speakership. After he walked out of the legislative building, he was hoisted on the shoulders by students and admirers who carried him all the way to his home along Taft Avenue.
Quezon would later obtain from the US Congress a similar law called Tydings-McDuffie Independence Law, which was readily accepted by the Philippine Congress. It provided for a constitutional convention and a 10-year Commonwealth period prior to independence.
In 1934, Roxas was elected to represent Capiz to the convention and became a member of the committee known as the “Seven Wise Men†who led the drafting of the 1935 Constitution.
On April 23, 1946, Roxas became the last president of the Commonwealth, and on July 4, 1946, the first president of the new republic. Roxas holds the unique role in Philippine history for leading two types of governments – the Philippine Commonwealth and the third Philippine Republic. He also stands as the only Filipino leader who has held sequential authority as House Speaker, Senate president, and president of the country.
Despite the brevity of his presidential tenure, Roxas recorded a great number of remarkable achievements. From the ruins of war, he rebuilt the country by reorganizing the bureaucracy, establishing the Central Bank of the Philippines and the Rehabilitation Finance Corp., and by systematizing financial institutions to speed up national economic recovery. He provided a brilliant leadership that progressively transitioned the country from a Commonwealth status to a republic.
In Claro M. Recto’s words, “It was the destiny of Manuel Roxas to govern during the most difficult era of our country’s history. Considering the number and magnitude of these problems, the poor and inadequate means at his command for their remedy. And the extreme brevity of the time fate was to allot to him, no other ruler without his talent and industry could have achieved as much as he.â€
His legacy was carried on by his son Gerry Roxas who became senator, and now, by his grandson, Secretary Mar Roxas of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Topping the commemorative activities is a celebration of the Holy Mass at 7 a.m. at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in his hometown Roxas City, to be followed with a wreath-laying at the Roxas national monument in the same city to be led by his grandson, DILG Secretary Mar Roxas. A wreath-laying ceremony will also be held at the Clark Air Base memorial site of President Roxas.
The province of Capiz is also marking its 113th founding anniversary.