Manuel "Mar" Araneta Roxas II (; born May 13, 1957) is a Filipino former politician who served as a senator of the Philippines from 2004 to 2010. He is the grandson and namesake of former Philippine President Manuel Roxas. He served in the Cabinet of the Philippines as the 37th secretary of the interior and local government from 2012 to 2015 after serving as the 30th secretary of trade and industry from 2000 to 2003 and 38th secretary of transportation and communications from 2011 to 2012. He is the son of former senator Gerry Roxas.
After graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, Roxas worked as a banker in New York, mobilizing venture capital funds for small and medium enterprises. He served as the Representative of the Capiz's first district from 1993 to 2000. His stint as congressman was cut short after he was appointed by President Joseph Estrada as Secretary of Trade and Industry. He resigned from the position at the height of the Second EDSA Revolution and was later re-appointed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in her new cabinet. He resigned again to run for a Senate seat in the 2004 election. Campaigning as Mr. Palengke, he was elected senator with 19 million votes, the highest ever garnered by a national candidate in any Philippine election at that time. Roxas co-authored the Expanded Value Added Tax Law (E-Vat).
Initially one of the leading candidates in the 2010 presidential election, he slid down to become a vice-presidential candidate in order to make way for fellow senator Benigno Aquino III, who won. Roxas was defeated by Makati mayor Jejomar Binay of PDP–Laban by a margin of 727,084 votes. He filed an electoral protest before the Supreme Court of the Philippines, with the Court sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal. On June 7, 2011, President Aquino appointed Roxas as transportation and communications secretary to replace outgoing secretary Jose de Jesus, and he took office on July 4, 2011. Afterwards, on August 31, 2012, President Aquino nominated him as interior and local government secretary, replacing Jesse Robredo, who died in a plane crash.
Roxas was the standard-bearer of the Liberal Party for the 2016 presidential election. He was officially endorsed by President Aquino to continue the present administration's reforms, collectively dubbed Daang Matuwid ("straight path"), which he formally accepted on July 31, 2015. On August 3, 2015, Roxas officially tendered his resignation as interior and local government secretary to focus on his presidential campaign. After placing second in the election, Roxas conceded to Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte on May 10, 2016. He would later attempt a comeback to the Senate in 2019, but lost.
Early life and background Manuel Araneta Roxas II was born on May 13, 1957, in Manila to Judy Araneta (1934–2025; of Bago, Negros Occidental) and Gerry Roxas (1923–1982; of Capiz), a Representative for Capiz (1957–1963) and a Senator (1963–1972).
Mar is one of the grandchildren of Manuel Roxas, the first President of the Third Philippine Republic (1946–48), and Trinidad de Leon. The couple married in 1955. He has two siblings: Maria Lourdes (married to Augusto Ojeda and mother of three) and Gerardo Jr. (1960–1993), a former congressman.
After grade school and high school at the Ateneo de Manila University, Roxas attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia,Business Insider story by Courtney Comstock dated 2 June 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2016GMA story entitled Why Wharton is such a big deal published December 15, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2016.Best Undergraduate Business Programs , U.S. News & World Report, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2016 majoring in Economics and earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1979.Bea Cupin and Michael Bueza, "Wharton a 'myth?' Facts on Mar Roxas and his economics degree", Rapplerof December 20, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2016Bea Cupin and Raymon Dullana, "Wharton: Yes, Roxas is our 'graduate'", Rappler of December 17, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2016 After graduation, he worked for seven years as an investment banker in New York City, and became an assistant vice president of the New York-based Allen & Company.
Following the 1985 announcement by President Ferdinand Marcos of a snap election, Roxas took a leave of absence to join the presidential campaign of Corazon Aquino. In September 1986, President Corazon Aquino went to the United States. Roxas was one of those who organized a series of investment round-table discussions with the American business community.
From 1986 onwards, Roxas visited the Philippines more frequently and proposed to Allen & Company to set up a branch in Asia, specifically in the Philippines; later his superiors agreed. In 1991, he was stationed in the Philippines with North Star Capitals, Inc. which took public the Jollibee fast food restaurant chain. In the United States, he participated in the first financing for Discovery Channel and Tri-Star Pictures.
Congress Roxas' younger brother, Dinggoy, who represented the Capiz's first district, died of colon cancer in 1993. At the age of 36, he decided to run in the special election to replace his brother in the seat and won, having been unopposed. He later became Majority Leader of the House of Representatives.
His landmark laws include, among others:
Republic Act No. 8759 – establishing in all municipalities a Public Employment Service Office which serves as an employment facilitation and information center, and links all job opportunities within the region; Republic Act No. 8748 – amending the Special Economic Zone Act by directly allocating to the municipality or city 2% (out of the 5%) gross tax to be collected from the establishments operating in the ecozone and providing for disturbance compensation for persons to be displaced or evicted by publicly owned ecozones; Republic Act No. 8756 – incentivizing the establishment of regional headquarters to encourage investment and operation of multinational companies in the country and to generate more jobs.
His tenure in the House was most noted for his principal authorship of Republic Act No. 7880 (Roxas Law), which ensures fair distribution of the education capital budget among all the provinces. This started his advocacy for fair and equitable access to education, free from regional bias and political patronage considerations.
Estrada cabinet Roxas resigned from the House of Representatives following his appointment as Secretary of Trade and Industry under the Estrada administration in 2000, replacing Jose Pardo who was appointed Secretary of Finance. During his stint, Roxas was named as Chairman of the Information Technology and Electronic Commerce Council, a body formed with the participation of both the government and private sector to monitor the implementation of the E-Commerce Law (Republic Act 8792) and programs pushing for the growth of IT-enabled services. He resigned the position in November, as Estrada was under fire due to allegations of corruption.
Arroyo cabinet In January 2001, just days after Estrada had been overthrown, Roxas was re-appointed to the same office by newly installed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
During his four-year stint as DTI Secretary, he pushed for the development of the palengke (market) as the basic unit of the economy and the root of progress, advocating not only consumer welfare and protection but also sound trade and investment policies, particularly SME development.
As a proponent of the philosophy of 'palengkenomics', which considers the "palengke" (wet market) as a microcosm of the economy, Roxas conducted weekly monitoring of the prices of prime commodities.
Among his projects were the following palengke-based programs which promoted supply chain efficiencies: Tamang Timbang, Tamang Presyo (Right Scale, Right Price) for consumers, Presyong Tama, Gamot Pampamilya (Right Price, Family Medicine) to make affordable and quality medicines accessible to Filipinos, Pinoy Pandesal, Palengke ng Bayan (Market of the Country)
His work regarding trade policy was highlighted during the 2003 WTO meeting in Cancún, Mexico, where he fought for increased market access for Philippine exports, particularly agricultural products and a rationalized Philippine trade regime so that domestic industries would not be harmed.
At a time when computer access was limited to an elite few, Roxas initiated the Personal Computers for Public Schools (PCPS) Program, which distributed over 44,240 desktop computers to 3,428 public high schools all over the Philippines. PCPS computers provided 500,000 high school students with the necessary ICT tools and skills.
Roxas pushed for MSME development through the SULONG (SMEs Unified Lending Opportunities for National Growth) Program, which granted almost ₱26.7 billion on low-interest loans to 281,229 SMEs on its first year.
He was named 'Father of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)' market in the Philippines, particularly call center operations, by industry stakeholders.Suzanne Nam, , Forbes, December 29, 2006 From starting out with a mere 2000 jobs at the onset, the IT/BPO industry now provides over a million jobs in the Philippines.Krisha Maclang, "Noy hails Mar as father of Philippine BPO industry", PhilStar Global, October 8, 2015
In the year 2000, Roxas was named Chairman of the Information Technology and Electronic Commerce Council. This institution, which was composed of members of the government and the private sector, was formed to monitor the implementation of the E-Commerce Law (Republic Act 8792) and programs pushing for the growth of IT-enabled services.Nikki Natividad, "A history of the BPO industry in numbers", Rappler, August 31, 2015Krisha Maclang, "8 People who Helped Build the Philippine BPO Industry", Kalibrr, June 18, 2015
Senate On December 10, 2003, Roxas resigned from his post to prepare for his senatorial bid under the banner of the Liberal Party in the 2004 elections. Roxas said that he needed to separate his work in DTI from his work as a candidate and added that his resignation did not surprise the President. He was succeeded by Cesar Purisima, former chairman of the accounting firm Sycip Gorres Velayo & Co.
Upon winning a seat in the 2004 Senate election, Roxas was proclaimed by the Commission on Elections as Senator-elect on May 24, 2004, and officially assumed the office at noon of June 30, 2004.
Roxas held assignments on the Senate Committee on Trade and Commerce and Senate Oversight Committee on Optical Media Board serving alongside Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Jr.
Roxas authored 43 bills and 46 resolutions brought before the 13th Congress in July 2004 and 2007. He filed bills on fighting smuggling, supporting labor, education, economy, and alternative energy.
On February 26, 2006, the Philippines was under a state emergency after the government claimed that it foiled an alleged coup d'état attempt against the administration of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo earlier that same day. Two days later, Roxas called on the government to immediately revoke Proclamation No. 1017, saying it betrays its own vision of a strong republic and directly attack Philippine democracy.
Roxas voted in favor of the Revised Value-Added Tax Law when it was deliberated in the Senate. The law was co-authored by other Liberal Party members, Franklin Drilon and Francis Pangilinan. He also voted in favor of the abolition of the death penalty in the Philippines.
Roxas voted against the Human Security Act together with Senator Jamby Madrigal saying that "the fight against terror requires urgent operational reforms over measures that could impair civil liberties". He even warned that the said law poses a danger to the security and rights of every Filipino if there will be no set of implementing rules and regulations laid down.
Roxas' legislative agenda for the 14th Congress is as follows: