Manuel Roxas: Difference between revisions

{{Use mdyPhilippine datesEnglish|date=FebruaryJanuary 20152023}}

{{Infobox Officeholderofficeholder

|name office = ManuelPresident of the RoxasPhilippines

|image vicepresident = Manuel A[[Elpidio Roxas.jpgQuirino]]

|predecessor successor = [[SergioElpidio OsmeñaQuirino]]

|term_start2 predecessor2 = July[[Manuel 9,L. 1945Quezon]]

|predecessor2 office3 = [[ManuelSenator of L.the QuezonPhilippines]]

|successor2 term_start3 = [[JoséJuly 9, Avelino]]1945

|office3 term_end3 = [[Senator of the Philippines]] = May 25, 1946

|term_end3 president4 = May[[Manuel 25,L. 1946Quezon]]

|term_start4 term_end4 = AugustMarch 2126, 19411942

|term_end4 predecessor4 = December[[Jorge 29,B. 1941Vargas]]

|president4 successor4 = [[Manuel L.Arturo QuezonRotor]]

|successor4 term_start5 = [[SerafinAugust 21, Marabut]]1941

|office7 term_start7 = [[Capiz|GovernorJune of6, Capiz]]1922

|term_end7 predecessor7 = 1921Antonio Habana

|rank unit =

|unit commands =

|awards order = 5th

'''Manuel Acuña Roxas''' (born{{post-nominals|list=[[Quezon '''ManuelService RoxasCross|QSC]]}} y({{IPA|tl|maˈnwel Acuña'''aˈkuɲa ˈɾɔhas|lang}}; January 1, 1892 – April 15, 1948) was a [[Filipino people|Filipino]] [[lawyer]] and [[politician]] who served as the fifth [[Presidentpresident of the Philippines]] who served from 1946 until his death in 1948. He briefly served briefly as the third and last President of the [[Commonwealth of the Philippines]] from May 28, 1946, to July 4, 1946, subsequentlyand becomingbecame the first President of the independentIndependent [[History of the Philippines (1946–65)|Third Philippine Republic]] after the [[United States]] ceded its sovereignty over the [[Philippines]].

==PersonalEarly life and education==

[[File:Embassy of Gabon, inWashington, the United StatesD.C.JPGjpg|thumb|rightleft|FormerRoxas's former diplomatic residence of Manuel Roxas in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]

Having enrolled prior to [[World War II]] as an officer in the reserves, heRoxas was made liaison officer between the [[Commonwealth of the Philippines|Commonwealth government]] and the [[United States Army Forces in the Far East|USAFFE]] headquarters of General [[Douglas MacArthur]]. HeOn December 7, 1941, Japan went to war against the United States, bombing the U.S. naval base in [[Pearl Harbor]], Hawaii, while also bombing American bases in the Philippines.{{sfn|Buhite|2008|p=41}} Shortly after, Japanese invasion forces landed on [[Luzon]], the largest and most populous of the islands of the Philippine archipelago.{{sfn|Buhite|2008|p=41}} MacArthur had claimed that the American–Filipino forces under his command would stop any Japanese invasion "on the beaches", but instead the Japanese forces marched on [[Manila]], the capital and largest city of the Philippines.{{sfn|Buhite|2008|p=41}} Roxas accompanied President Quezon to [[Corregidor Island|Corregidor]] where he supervised the destruction of Philippine currency to prevent its capture by the Japanese. When Quezon left Corregidor, Roxas went to Mindanao to direct the resistance there. It was prior to Quezon's departure that he was made Executiveexecutive Secretarysecretary and designated as successor to the presidency in case Quezon or Vice- President [[Sergio Osmeña]] were captured or killed. On January 3, 1942, President Quezon presented General MacArthur with a secret guaranty of $500,000.{{sfn|Weinberg|2005|p=310}}<ref name="The Secret Payment">{{cite web |title=MacArthur – The Secret Payment |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/macarthur-secret-payment/ |website=The American Experience |access-date=August 8, 2021}}</ref> The payment was related to the Filipino concept of ''[[utang na loob]]'', where one offers a lavish gift in order to create a reciprocal obligation from the individual who receives the gift.<ref name="The Secret Payment"/> Through the payment was legal, it was questionable from an ethical perspective, and MacArthur always kept the payment secret, which did not become public knowledge until 1979.<ref name="The Secret Payment"/> Later that year, Quezon offered payment to General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], which he refused, saying that as a United States Army official, his first loyalty was to the United States, which made accepting such a payment as morally wrong in his viewpoint.<ref name="The Secret Payment"/> Roxas was one of the few people who did know about Quezon's gift to MacArthur.{{sfn|Weinberg|2005|p=863}}

|name = Manuel Roxas

|image = [[File:President of the Philippines Seal 1947Seal_of_the_President_of_the_Philippines_1947-1951.svg|50px100px]]

|dipstyle = [[His Excellency]]

|offstyle = Your Excellency

|altstyle = Mr. President

=== Last Presidentpresident of the Commonwealth ===

On May 28, 1946, Roxas was inaugurated as the last Presidentpresident of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. The inaugural ceremonies were held in the ruins of the Legislative Building (now part of the [[National Museum of the Philippines]]) and were witnessed by about 200,000 people.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} In his address, he outlined the main policies of his administration, mainly: closer ties with the United States; adherence to the newly created [[United Nations]]; national reconstruction; relief for the masses; social justice for the working class; the maintenance of peace and order; the preservation of individual rights and liberties of the citizenry; and honesty and efficiency of government.

On June 21, heRoxas reappeared in front of another joint session of the Congress and urged the acceptance of two laws passed by the [[Congress of the United States]] on April 30, 1946—the [[Tydings–McDuffie Act]], of Philippine Rehabilitation Act, and the [[Bell Trade Act]] or Philippine Trade Act.<ref>''[[Official Gazette (Philippines)|Official Gazette]]'', July 1946, vol. 42 no. 7, pp. 1625–1628</ref> Both recommendations were accepted by the Congress. Under the Bell Trade Act, the goods from the Philippines were granted tariff-free access to the American market, achieving one of Roxas's key aims; in exchange, he accepted pegging the [[Philippine peso]] to the U.S. dollar and American corporations were granted parity rights when it came to exploiting the minerals and forests of the Philippines.{{sfn|Pike|2010|p=174}} In exchange for accepting the Bell Trade Act, the U.S. Congress voted for some $2 billion in aid to the Philippines.{{sfn|Pike|2010|p=174}} Though the $2 billion was intended to assist with the reconstruction of the war-devastated nation, the vast majority of the money was stolen by Roxas and his corrupt friends.{{sfn|Pike|2010|p=174}} The American journalist Robert Shaplen noted after a visit to Manila: "It may well be that in no other city in the world was there so much graft and corruption and conniving after the war".{{sfn|Pike|2010|p=174}}

====Domestic policies====

=====Economy=====

|labelstyle = font-weight: normal;

|header1 = Population

|label2 = '''1948'''

|data2 = <math>\approx</math> 19.23&nbsp;million

|header3 = Gross Domestic Product (1985 constant prices)

|label4 = '''1947'''

|data4 = = {{increase}} [[Philippine peso|Php]] 85, 269 million

|label6 = '''Growth rate, 1947–48'''

|data6 = 39.5%

|header7 = Per capita income (1985 constant prices)

|label8 = '''1947'''

|data8 = = {{increase}} [[Philippine peso|Php]] 4,434

|header10 = Total exports

|label11 = '''1947'''

|data11 = = {{increase}} [[Philippine peso|Php]] 24, 824 million

|header13 = [[Exchange rate]]s

|data14 = 1 US$ = [[Philippine peso|Php]] 2.00<br /> 1 [[Philippine peso|Php]] = US$ 0.50

|data15 = ''Sources'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20110714131730/http://filipinopresidency.multiply.com/photos/album/26#photo=15 Philippine Presidency Project]<br />{{cite book|lastlast1=Malaya|firstfirst1=Jonathan|author2first2=Eduardo |last2=Malaya |title=So Help Us God... The Inaugurals of the Presidents of the Philippines|publisher=Anvil Publishing, Inc.}}

President Roxas, with bold steps, met the situation with the same confidence he exuded in his inaugural address, when he said: "The system of free but guided enterprise is our system". Among the main remedies proposed was the establishment of the Philippine Rehabilitation Finance Corporation. This entity would be responsible for the construction of twelve thousand houses and for the grant of easy-term loans in the amount of 177P177,000,000 pesos. 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.

Concentrating on the sugar industry, President Roxas would exert such efforts as to succeed in increasing production from 13,000 tons at the time of the Philippine liberation to an all-high of one million tons.<ref name="autogenerated1961"/>

=====Reconstruction after the war=====

The [[World War II|postwar]] Philippineswar had burned cities and towns, ruined farms and factories, blasted roads and bridges, shattered industries and commerce, andmassacred thousands of massacredcivilians, victims. The war hadand paralyzed the educational system, where 80% of the school buildings, their equipment, laboratories and furniture were destroyed.<ref>Gallego, Manuel V. "The Technique of Japanese Cultural Invasion." ''Philippine Journal of Education.'' Manila, November 1946, p. 94</ref> Numberless books, invaluable documents and works of art, irreplaceable historical relics and family [[heirloom]]s, hundreds of churches and temples were burned. The reconstruction of the damaged school buildings alone cost more than [[Philippine peso|Php]] 126₱126,000,000,000. Pike noted that the Japanese as part of their efforts of "liberation" from American imperialism by bringing the Philippines into the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere "...had smashed industrial buildings, banks, government offices and hotels. Infrastructure including ports had been sabotaged or destroyed in the heavy fighting for Manila".{{sfn|Pike|2010|p=175}}

The new Republicrepublic began to function on an annual deficit of over Php 200P200,000,000 with little prospect of a balanced budget for some years to come.<ref>Message of His Excellency Manuel Roxas, President of the Philippines to the Second Congress delivered on June 3, 1946. Manila. Bureau of Printing, 1946, p. 6</ref> [[Manila]] and other cities then were infested with criminal gangs which used techniques of American [[gangster]]s in some activities–bankactivities—bank [[robberyRobbery|holdups]], [[kidnapping]] and [[burglar]]ies. In rural regions, especially the provinces of [[Central Luzon]] and the [[Southern Tagalog]] regions, the [[Hukbalahap]]s and brigands terrorized towns and [[barrio]]s.

=====Agrarian reform=====

In 1946, shortly after his induction to Presidencypresidency, Manuel Roxas proclaimed the Rice Share Tenancy Act of 1933 effective throughout the country.<ref name="autogenerated2">Manapat, Carlos, et al.'' Economics, Taxation, and Agrarian Reform''. Quezon City: C&E Pub., 2010. Print.</ref> However, problems of [[land tenure]] continued. In fact, these became worse in certain areas.<ref name="autogenerated2"/> Among the remedial measures enacted was Republic Act No. 194634, likewise known as the Tenant Act, which provided for a 70–30 sharing arrangements and regulated share-tenancy contracts.<ref name="autogenerated2"/> It was passed to resolve the ongoing peasant unrest in Central Luzon.<ref name="autogenerated2"/>

===== Amnesty proclamation =Proclamation====

President Roxas, on January 28, 1948, granted full amnesty to all so-called Philippine collaborators, many of whom were on trial or awaiting to be tried, particularly former President [[José P. Laurel]] (1943–1945).<ref name="autogenerated1961"/> The Amnesty Proclamation did not apply to those "collaborators", who were charged with the commission of common crimes, such as murder, rape, and arson. The presidential decision did much<ref name="autogenerated1961"/> to heal a standing wound that somehow threatened to divide the people's sentiments.<ref name="autogenerated1961"/> It was a much-called for measure to bring about a closer unity in the trying times when such was most needed for the progress of the nation.<ref name="autogenerated1961"/>

=====Civil ''Huks'' outlawed =war====

DisgustedAfter persecuting the ''[[HUKBALAHAP|Hukbóng Bayan Laban sa Hapón]]'', Roxas opened peace talks with the crimesHuks beingand committedinvited a delegation of Huk leaders led by [[Juan Feleo]] to come to Manila in August 1946.{{sfn|Pike|2010|p=175}} While returning to their jungle bases, Felco and the other Huk leaders were ambushed by police forces, with Felco's head was found floating in the Pampanga River.{{sfn|Pike|2010|p=175}} The ambush was intended to cripple the Huks, but instead led to a civil war as the police and the army rapidly lost control of much of Luzon to the Huks.{{sfn|Pike|2010|p=175}} Strongly opposed to the guerrilla movement ''[[HUKBALAHAP|Hukbó ng Bayan Laban sa Hapón]]'' (Nation's Army Against the Japanese, also called "the Huks") and possessing evidence of their subversion, Roxas issued a proclamation outlawing the Huk movement on March 6, 1948.<ref name="autogenerated1961"/> At Itthe same time, Roxas pardoned the Filipinos who had becomecollaborated anwith imperativethe inJapanese.{{sfn|Pike|2010|p=175}} viewThe pardon of the resurgencecollaborators oflent Huksome depredations,substance followingto the unseatingcharge ofby the sevenHuks Communists,that ledhis byadministration Hukwas Supremoa [[Luiscontinuation Taruc]]of throughthe actswartime ofcollaborationist terrorismpuppet government.<ref name="autogenerated1961"/>

===Foreign policies===
====Treaty of General Relations =====

On August 5, 1946, the [[Congress of the Philippines]] ratified the Treaty of General Relations that had been entered into by and between the [[Republic of the Philippines]] and the United States on July 4, 1946.<ref name="autogenerated1961"/> Aside from withdrawing her sovereignty from the Philippines and recognizing her independence, the Treaty reserved for the United States some bases for the mutual protection of both countries; consented that the United States represent the Philippines in countries where the latter had not yet established diplomatic representation; made the Philippines assume all debts and obligations of the former government in the Philippines; and provided for the settlement of property rights of the citizens of both countries.<ref name="autogenerated1961"/>

===== United States military bases =====

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 ownerowners and investorinvestors.{{citation neededsfn|datePike|2010|p=174}} On March 201321, 1947, the United States granted the Philippines some $17.7 million in military aid and another $25 million to assist with reconstruction.{{sfn|Pike|2010|p=174}} The Communist Huk rebellion led to fears in the United States that the Huks might come to power while the fact that the Kuomintang were clearly losing the Chinese civil war by this point led to the very real possibility that Chinese Communists might come to the power.{{sfn|Pike|2010|p=174}} In turn, there was much fear in Washington that a Communist China would grant the Soviet Union air and naval bases. The possibility of a Communist China vastly increased the geopolitical importance of the Philippines to the United States, which wanted to retain its air and naval bases in the Philippines to maintain control of the South China Sea.{{sfn|Pike|2010|p=174}} The Americans made it clear that they were prepared to pay "handsomely" for the right to keep their Filipino bases, which Roxas exploited.{{sfn|Pike|2010|p=174}}

=====PartyParity Rights Amendment=====

On March 11, 1947, Philippine voters, agreeing with Roxas, ratified in a nationwide [[plebiscite]] the "[[1947 Philippine Parity Rights plebiscite, 1947|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]]''.

=====[[Philippine Turtle Islands|Turtle]] and [[Mangsee Islands|Mangsee]] Islands=====

On 19 September 19, 1946, the Republic of the Philippines notified the [[United Kingdom]] that it wished to take over the administration of the [[Turtle Islands, Tawi-Tawi|Turtle Islands]] and the Mangesse[[Mangsee Islands]]. Pursuant to a supplemental international agreement, the transfer of administration became effective on 16 October 16, 1947.<ref>[{{cite web |url=http://treaties.fco.gov.uk/docs/fullnames/pdf/1951/TS0058%20(1951)%20CMD-8320%201948%2020%20APR,%20MANILA%3B%20NOTES%20BETWEEN%20GOV%20OF%20UK%20&%20PHILIPPINES%20REGARDING%20TRANSFER%20OF%20ADMINISTRATION%20OF%20TURTLE%20&%20MANGSEE%20ISLANDS.pdf |title=Exchange of Notes between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines regarding the transfer of the administration of the Turtle and Mangsee Islands to the Philippine Republic; Cmd 8320] |access-date=August 8, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180505194733/http://treaties.fco.gov.uk/docs/fullnames/pdf/1951/TS0058%20%281951%29%20CMD-8320%201948%2020%20APR%2C%20MANILA%3B%20NOTES%20BETWEEN%20GOV%20OF%20UK%20%26%20PHILIPPINES%20REGARDING%20TRANSFER%20OF%20ADMINISTRATION%20OF%20TURTLE%20%26%20MANGSEE%20ISLANDS.pdf |archive-date=May 5, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|authorfirst=Peter C. |last=Richards|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19471206&id=Sf5UAAAAIBAJ&sjid=v5MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4610,725646&hl=en|title=New Flag Over Pacific Paradise|publisher=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=6 December 6, 1947|accessdateaccess-date=22 October 22, 2015}}</ref>

====Assassination attempt=Controversies===

|12= 1. Manuel[[Gerardo Roxas y Luis]]

|11=

|14= 14. Paulino Villaruz

|15= 15. Eugenia Andrada

{{Wikisource author}}{{Commons}}

{{s-bef
| before =[[ Antonio Habana]]
}}

{{s-off}}bef

{{s-bef| before = [[Sergio Osmeña]]
}}

{{s-new|office}}party

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 20152022}}

[[Category:Manuel Roxas| ]]

[[Category:PhilippineCandidates presidentialin candidates,the 1946 Philippine presidential election]]

[[Category:20th-century Filipino lawyers]]

[[Category:Secretaries of Financefinance of the Philippines]]

[[Category:Executive Secretariessecretaries of the Philippines]]

[[Category:PeoplePoliticians from Capiz]]

[[Category:Roxas family|Manuel]]

[[Category:Quezon Administrationadministration cabinet members]]