BRILLIANT POLITICIAN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26748, 17 April 1948, Page 7

BRILLIANT POLITICIAN

DEATH OF PRESIDENT ROXAS LEADER IN PHILIPPINES INDEPENDENCE N.Z.P.A.—Copyright MANILA, Apl. 16. An official announcement from the Presidential Palace said that President Manuel Roxas died at 10.1 p.m. on Thursday (Manila time) at the quarters of Major-general E. L. Eubank, at Clark Field, an American base 50 miles north-west of Manila, where he had been taken when stricken ill on Thursday afternoon after making a strong speech against Communist aggression. In his last speech President Roxas pledged that the Philippines would fight beside the United States in the event of another war. He collapsed just before he was due to review the United States troops stationed at Clark Field. . The Vice-president and Foreign Secretary, Elpidio Quirino, aged 57, succeeds him. Manuel Acuna Roxas was born Manuel Roxas y Acuna, of SpanishFilipino descent, on January 1, 1892. His parents were ardent libertarians, and his father was one of the first Filipinos killed in the revolt against Spanish rule. At 17. Manuel Roxas entered the University of the Philippines College of Law, where he was a brilliant student, taking first honours. After graduation in 1913, Roxas spent some time at St. Joseph’s College in Hongkong to perfect his English. He mastered also the Spanish language—the second official language of the Philippines. It was in 1919 that Roxas first entered the political arena, and his powerful personality won him the governorship of his native province. When his term expired in 1921, Governor Roxas was elected from Capiz to the House of Representatives, which was fairly evenly divided among three parties. Of Roxas, Joseph Ralston Hayden in “ The Philippines ” says: “Mr Roxas proved to be a man of brilliant intellect and powerful person ality. Fully utilising the power and prestige of the speakership of the House of Representatives, he eventually contributed substantially to the establishment of the Quezon leader* ship in the lower House.” and became one of the country’s “Big Three.” Mission in Washington Roxas, who had been a special envoy to Washington with independence delegations in 1923-24 and 1929-30, had a similar mission in 1931-33. The Ninth Independence Mission, like those which preceded it, was composed of leaders of both the Philippines' major parties. Headed by Senate President Osmena and Speaker Roxas, it had been voted “ entire freedom ” in negotiation. The mission spent almost two years in Washington working with Congressional committees on what became the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act of 1932. which was passed over President Hoover’s veto. This set a definite date for independence, July 4. 1946, and permitted a high degree of automony in the interim, but it.also contained economic provisions which threatened Philippine stability _ and made it unacceptable to President Quezon. The dispute over the Bill, which Osmena and Roxas considered imperfect but the best obtainable, grew into a bittle contest for control of the party, and thus of the Government. Receiving a vote of confidence, President Quezon removed Osmena and Roxas from the Senate and speakership, and the latter, in turn, formed an opposition party. In October, 1933, the Philippine Legislature rejected the Act and Quezon went off to Washington to get a better • one. The TydingsMcDuffie Act' he brought back was almost identical with the rejected law, but the Legislature accepted it, with Quezon getting the credit for securing the Islands’ independence. Anti-Quezon Leader In spite of his setback, Roxas was elected to the Constitutional Convention of July, 1934-February, 1935, where he was leader of the anti-Quezon men. Roxas “ probably exerted the greatest influence in shaping the new constitution,” which proved to embody Quezon’s views. After a visit to the United States to secure President Roosevelt's approval of the new law, Roxas retired to the practice of law and service on the University of the Philippines board of regents. But in November, 1938. Manuel Roxas joined the Quezon Cabinet as Secretary of Finance, and shortly before the Pearl Harbour attack the 49-year-old economist was elected to the Senate —a Senate that never really served, because of the Japanese attack. Japanese Occupation

A lieutenant-colonel in the Philippine Reserve Army, he was detailed as liaison officer and aide to General Douglas MacArthuf on December 16, 1941. After the fall of Manila on January 2, Roxas remained on Corregidor, but later escaped under fire to Mindanao, where he was taken prisoner by the Japanese. Most Filipinos of any importance were either prisoners of the Japanese or members of the Japanese-sponsored puppet Government of Supreme Court Justice Jose P. Laurel. Brigadier-general Roxas was one of the latter group. When members of the Laurel Cabinet turned themselves over to General MacArthur in April. 1945, Roxas was “ rescued ’’ while the others were “captured” and imprisoned. Roxas was unanimously elected President of the reconstituted Senate, and in April. 1946, was elected President of the Philippines and President-Elect of the Republic of the Philippines.