1. Manuel Roxas served briefly as the third and last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from May 28,1946, to July 4,1946, and became the first President of the Independent Third Philippine Republic after the United States ceded its sovereignty over the Philippines.
Manuel Roxas y Acuna was born on January 1,1892, in Capiz, Capiz to Gerardo Roxas y Luis and Rosario Acuna y Villaruz.
Manuel Roxas was a posthumous child, as his father died after being mortally wounded by the Spanish Guardia Civil the year before.
Manuel Roxas eventually transferred to Manila High School, graduating with honors in 1909.
Manuel Roxas then became professor of law at the Philippine Law School and National University.
Manuel Roxas served as secretary to Judge Cayetano Arellano of the Supreme Court.
In 1917, Manuel Roxas became a member of the municipal council of Capiz, serving until 1919.
Manuel Roxas then became the youngest provincial governor of Capiz, and served in that capacity from 1919 to 1922.
Manuel Roxas was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives in 1922, and for twelve consecutive years was Speaker of the House.
Manuel Roxas served as a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1934, secretary of finance, chairman of the National Economic Council, chairman of the National Development Company, and served in many other government corporations and agencies.
Manuel Roxas served as a brigadier general in the United States Army Forces in the Far East, was a recognized guerrilla leader and military leader of the Philippine Commonwealth Army.
Manuel Roxas became one of the leaders of the Nacionalista Party, which was dominated by the hacendado class who owned the vast hacienda estates that made up most of the cultivated land in the Philippines.
Manuel Roxas himself was a hacendado, who had used his wealth to further his political ambitions.
In early 1930, Manuel Roxas flew to the United States with Sergio Osmena to lobby the US Congress to go slow on the granting of independence in the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Bill.
In Washington, Manuel Roxas lobbied US government leaders such as Secretary of State Henry Stimson and Secretary of War Patrick Hurley.
Manuel Roxas testified before the US Congress that he favored Philippine independence, saying the Filipinos had fulfilled the "stable government" provision of the Jones Act of 1916, which mandated that independence be granted when Filipinos proved that they had a "stable government".
In common with the rest of the Filipino elite, Manuel Roxas saw the plans of the US Congress to impose tariffs on Filipino goods after independence as an economic disaster for the Philippines.
Roxas advised that Quezon should now try to appease Senators Harry B Hawes and Bronson B Cutting by sending them a message saying he wanted immediate independence, which Roxas felt was not likely at present.
In talks with Quezon, Osmena, and Manuel Roxas, it was agreed that the Philippines should become an autonomous commonwealth under American rule and would be allowed to keep exporting sugar and coconut oil to the United States at the present rate.
Manuel Roxas became seen as one of the less radical independence leaders, who favored "going slow" on independence to keep access to the US market.
At the time, Manuel Roxas cynically stated he and the other Nacionalistas had to make "radical statements for immediate, complete and absolute independence to maintain hold of the people".
In common with other members of the Filipino elite, Manuel Roxas started to cultivate ties with Japan as it was unclear whatever the Philippines would remain in the American sphere of influence after independence or fall into the Japanese sphere of influence.
Manuel Roxas accompanied President Quezon to Corregidor where he supervised the destruction of Philippine currency to prevent its capture by the Japanese.
When Quezon left Corregidor, Manuel Roxas went to Mindanao to direct the resistance there.
Manuel Roxas was one of the few people who did know about Quezon's gift to MacArthur.
Manuel Roxas was captured in April 1942 by the Japanese invasion forces.
Manuel Roxas became chief advisor to the collaborationist government of Jose P Laurel.
The American historian Russell Buhite wrote: "Manuel Roxas was the Philippine equivalent of the fabled French statesman Charles Maurice de Tallyrand who was able to blend with the wind, able to work with authority wherever he found it".
Manuel Roxas passed on information from Malacanang to the Fil-Am guerrilla movement through Ramona Snyder, the lover of guerrilla Edwin Ramsey.
On October 20,1943, the head of the Japanese military police, Akira Nagahama, surprised President Laurel in Malacanang and demanded the arrest of Manuel Roxas, whose office was a short distance away.
Manuel Roxas served in the Laurel government until April 1945, when he surrendered to American forces at Baguio.
MacArthur may have been blackmailed by Manuel Roxas, who threatened to reveal the guaranty he accepted in 1942.
Shortly after his capture, Manuel Roxas told the Americans that he wanted the United States to keep its military bases in the Philippines after independence in 1946, and promised to use all of his influence to persuade the Filipino congress to accept independence on those terms.
MacArthur believed that the men of the hacendado class, such as Manuel Roxas, were capable of providing the Philippines with competent leadership.
The charismatic Manuel Roxas made for more appealing social company, which he used to his advantage in his dealings with The General.
MacArthur announced in a speech that Manuel Roxas was "one of the prime factors in the guerilla movement" against the Japanese.
Manuel Roxas became their candidate for president and Elpidio Quirino for vice-president.
The British historian Francis Pike wrote that Manuel Roxas "effectively brought" the 1946 election, helped by the fact that he owned the largest newspaper empire in the Philippines.
Manuel Roxas was willing to sign the agreement, but demanded that the number of American bases be reduced and complained that the sweeping immunity from Filipino law enjoyed by American military personnel envisioned in the agreement would not be popular with Filipino public opinion.
Manuel Roxas made it clear that he was more comfortable with the Americans mostly having naval and air bases in the Philippines, and wanted the number of US Army bases kept to the minimum.
Some aspects of the Manuel Roxas desiderata were incorporated in the final agreement as the Americans agreed to reduce the number of bases in the Philippines after independence.
On May 28,1946, Manuel Roxas was inaugurated as the last president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
On June 3,1946, Manuel Roxas appeared for the first time before a joint session of Congress to deliver his first State of the Nation Address.
Under the Bell Trade Act, the goods from the Philippines were granted tariff-free access to the American market, achieving one of Manuel Roxas's key aims; in exchange, he accepted pegging the Philippine peso to the US dollar and American corporations were granted parity rights when it came to exploiting the minerals and forests of the Philippines.
In what was described as "a monstrous abrogation of democratic procedure", Manuel Roxas expelled all members of Congress from the Democratic Alliance, claiming that they been elected illegally, and replaced them with his own bets.
Manuel Roxas served as the president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in a brief period, from May 28,1946, to July 4,1946, during which time Manuel Roxas helped prepare the groundwork for an independent Philippines.
Manuel Roxas was inugurated at the ruins of Legislative Building in Manila, which was ruined during the World War II.
In 1946, shortly after his induction to presidency, Manuel Roxas proclaimed the Rice Share Tenancy Act of 1933 effective throughout the country.
Strongly opposed to the guerrilla movement Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon, Manuel Roxas issued a proclamation outlawing the Huk movement on March 6,1948.
US officials throughout the late 1940s that Manuel Roxas was a corrupt leader whose policies openly favored the hacendado class and that unless reforms were made, it was inevitable that the Huks would win.
On March 11,1947, Philippine voters, agreeing with Manuel Roxas, ratified in a nationwide plebiscite the "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.
Manuel Roxas's administration was marred by graft and corruption; moreover, the abuses of the provincial military police contributed to the rise of the left-wing movement in the countryside.
The good record of the Manuel Roxas administration was marred by notable failures: the failure to curb graft and corruption in the government, the Chinese immigration scandal, the school supplies scandal and the failure to check and stop the communist Hukbalahap movement.
The night before the plebiscite, Manuel Roxas narrowly escaped assassination by Julio Guillen, a disgruntled barber from Tondo, Manila, who hurled a grenade at the platform on Plaza Miranda immediately after Manuel Roxas had addressed a rally.
Manuel Roxas's body was brought to Manila the following day on a special train, reaching Malacanang at about 9:20 am.
Manuel Roxas married Trinidad de Leon on April 14,1921, in a quiet ceremony at the Chapel of Sibul Springs, San Miguel, Bulacan.
On July 3,1956, Manuel Roxas was posthumously awarded the Quezon Service Cross.