Manuel "Mar" Araneta Roxas II (born May 13, 1957) is a Senator of the Philippines. He is the grandson of former Philippine President Manuel Roxas. Aside from being a native Filipino, he is of Spanish, Mexican, and Chinese blood, being a descendant of Antonio de Ayala and Domingo Roxas who were Basque-Spanish settlers in the Philippines, Antonio Fernandez de Roxas who was a Mexican settler in the Philippines and of the Acuñas who are of part-Chinese ancestry.
Roxas was born in Quezon City, Metro Manila. A graduate of Wharton School of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, Roxas worked as an investment banker, mobilizing venture capital funds for small and medium enterprises before running for public office. He served as the Representative of the 1st District of Capiz from 1993 to 2000. His stint as Congressman was cut short after he was appointed by then Philippine President Joseph Estrada as Secretary of Trade and Industry describing him as a "seasoned investment banker". He resigned from the position at the height of the EDSA Revolution of 2001 and was later re-appointed by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her new Cabinet. He resigned again from the position after he decided to bid for a seat in the Senate in the 2004 Philippine election. He was elected as Senator by 19,372,888 votes – the highest ever garnered by a national candidate in any Philippine election and edged out Bong Revilla who was consistently number one in the surveys.
Early life and career
Roxas was born on May 13, 1957 in Manila, Philippines to Judy Araneta (born July 31, 1931 in Negros Occidental) and Gerardo Roxas. Roxas’ father was a former Senator (born August 25, 1924 in Manila), and the only son of Manuel Roxas, the first President of the Third Philippine Republic, and Trinidad de Leon. The couple married on 1955. He has two siblings namely Maria Lourdes or Ria, married to Augusto Ojeda and mother of three and the late Congressman Gerardo Roxas, Jr..
Roxas attended Ateneo de Manila University for his elementary education in 1970 until his graduation in 1974. He pursued his studies for high school in the same school and graduated in 1974.
He attended the Wharton School of Economicsin the University of Pennsylvania where some of the courses he took in Ateneo de Manila University were credited, but were not enough to constitute a full semester. He earned a degree in economics upon graduation in 1979.
After graduation, he worked for seven years as an investment banker in New York, and became an assistant vice president of the New York-based Allen & Company.
A day after when then President Ferdinand Marcos announced a snap election, he went to his managing director and told him that he would take a leave of absence to join Corazon Aquino’s presidential campaign, the widow of Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., a leading figure in the political opposition against the autocratic rule of President Marcos.
He left United States in December 26, 1985 at John F. Kennedy Airport and arrived in Iloilo, Philippines in December 31, 1985.
In September 1986, President Corazon Aquino went to the United States. He was one of those who organized a series of investment round-table discussions with the American business community. From 1986 onwards, he visited the Philippines more frequently.
He then proposed to his company to have set up shop in Asia specifically in the Philippines, and later, his superiors agreed. In 1991, he was stationed in the country under North Star Capitals, Inc. which took Jolibee in public. In the United States, he participated in the first financing of Discovery Channel and Tri-Star Pictures.
Roxas’ brother, Dinggoy, a Congressman representing the 1st District of Capiz died of cancer. At the age of 35, he decided to run in the special election to replace his brother and won.
Presidential ambition
After he garnered the highest votes in the Philippine election history when he ran as Senator, many people had already made him a potential presidential candidate by 2010. While he has been coy on his plans for 2010, the Mar Roxas for president in 2010 movement has been gathering steam with the Liberal Party revival targeting the youth (considering that the bulk of the voting population is aged below 30 years old). Other signs include the sprouting of Mar Roxas for president spots in cyberspace; and his colleagues endorsing him as the party’s standard bearer — Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III declaring him Liberal Party’s candidate for 2010, Liberal Party’s chair emeritus Jovito Salonga introducing him as "the next president of the Philippine republic" and former Liberal Party Chairman Franklin Drilon saying that Roxas is the party’s standard bearer in the 2010 elections.
On January 18, 2008, Senator Edgardo Angara stated that in the upcoming 2010 Presidential elections, there will be at least 7 presidential aspirants namely Roxas, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Senate President Manuel Villar, Jr., Sen. Loren Legarda, Sen. Richard Gordon, Chairman Bayani Fernando of the Metro Manila Development Authority and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay. Sen. Francis Escudero denied any interest in 2010.
New LP President
On November 26, 2007, at Club Filipino, Greenhills, San Juan, the LP National Executive Council officials resolved to appoint him as president of the Liberal Party (Philippines). Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino and former Senate President Jovito Salonga, inter alia, signed the resolution.
Roxas is to unite the two LP factions, and set the stage for his presidential campaign in the 2010 election.[33] Lito Atienza, however, forthwith questioned Roxas’ appointment, attacking the composition of Liberal Party’s National Executive Council (NECO) and alleged that the Supreme Court of the Philippines’ June 5 resolution ordered the LP leadership’s status quo maintenance. Atienza stated: “I have no invitation. They kicked me out of the meeting; How can you (Roxas) unite the party when you take the wrong step?”
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