Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Roxas convinced Aquino will run
Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II Tuesday said he is convinced that Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III will run for president in 2010.
“Noynoy said he will not turn his back on the fight Cory and Ninoy started,” Roxas pointed out, but added he did not want to pre-empt Aquino’s formal announcement.
A confidant said Aquino will announce his candidacy for the presidency on Wednesday at the Club Filipino, the same venue where his late mother, Corazon Aquino, took her oath as president in 1986.
Roxas, who was one of the earliest to announce his plans to seek the presidency, last week gave up his ambition and yielded to Aquino, saying the fight for 2010 was a fight for the country and went beyond personal interest.
Aquino, who has gone on a spiritual retreat in Zamboanga City, has said he would be announcing his decision before the end of the month even as his supporters continue to gather the signatures that they hope would convince him to run.
Roxas said he is supporting Aquino for president because he sees in him the chance to unite the forces fighting for reform and good governance.
“Noynoy is very prepared. I have a high respect for him. He will not tarnish the clean name of his parents. What is important is his spirit to want to do what is right,” he said.
Members of the Aquino clan, including those serving in the Arroyo administration, will rally behind Noynoy if he decides to run, Agapito “Butz” Aquino, a former senator and congressman, said Tuesday.
The clan will be united behind Noynoy if he decides to run, Butz said.
He said he expects family members who are in the administration—like his sister, Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta, another former senator who now chairs the Early Childhood Care and Development Council, and another sister, Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara, who is President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s image consultant—to also support Noynoy.
“If that is his decision I’m sure we will all rally behind him,” Butz told reporters in a chance interview at the Manila Peninsula hotel.
No rush
But he said Noynoy should not be rushed into a decision.
“He’s taking a very serious challenge. I think he should be given all the time to consider what he’s going to do,” said Butz, a younger brother of Noynoy’s father, the martyred opposition leader, Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr.
“He’s praying for guidance. I think that is a good sign,” he added.
Butz, who is a member of the opposition PDP-Laban party, said he also supports opposition unity talks so that they can field a common candidate for president.
“What’s important is that the people are wanting good government, an honest government, a government they can trust. I think that is what all of us want. So whatever will bring that about, we will do,” he said.
Deposed President Joseph Estrada Tuesday threatened to push through with his plans to run for President next year if the opposition fields “more than two candidates.”
“I’m sorry I cannot support anyone of them if the opposition will present more than two candidates,” he said in a speech before the Rotary Club of Makati.
‘Unity’ talks
Estrada said he was willing to join forces with Noynoy and that their camps would be holding “unity talks,” with Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay acting as intermediary, after Noynoy returns from his retreat.
Estrada later told reporters the chances of the opposition uniting around a single candidate were unlikely.
“I think the others cannot be persuaded to withdraw,” he said.
Estrada said that he intends to announce his candidacy in the first or second week October or before November “if the opposition does not unite.”
In Iloilo City, lawyer Dan Cartagena, one of the convenors of the Noynoy Aquino for President Movement-Iloilo, said the signatures gathered urging Noynoy to run are expected to reach from 2,500 to 3,000 on Wednesday.
“Noynoy needs to see and believe that the call for him to run for president is not just wishful thinking or a concept but backed by volunteers and voters willing to work for that call,” Cartagena said.
posted by Mailster at 10:02 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Arroyo’s Sona digs vs Roxas flatters LP
Senator Manuel Roxas II scored good points from the jab thrown against him by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her State of the Nation Address (Sona) Monday, the senator’s party mates in the Liberal Party (LP) said.
Muntinlupa Representative Rufino Biazon said that the President made Roxas appear as the most formidable among all the opposition presidential candidates when she singled him out in her tirades.
”He was picked out, it only shows the Mar (Roxas) is rally the opposition candidate because he warranted enough space and time to be included in the President’s Sona,” Biazon said in an interview after the Sona.
The congressman said he believes that the tirade on Roxas was good for the LP stalwart and actually earned him points.
Representative Lorenzo Tanada III, another LP member, said he welcomed the tirades on Roxas because “it shows that Senator Roxas must be doing the right thing.”
”If Senator Roxas’s fiscalizing action moves the President to do something right, then the potshots to Senator Roxas is worth it,” Tanada added.
In her speech, Arroyo took a dig at Roxas for criticizing her over the implementation of the Cheaper Medicines Act.
“To those who want to be president, this advice: If you really want something done, just do it, do it hard, do it well, don’t pussy-foot, don’t say bad words in public,” Arroyo said.
The President was apparently referring to Roxas’s cuss words at an anti-Charter change rally early this year.
posted by Mailster at 12:13 AM 0 comments
Monday, July 10, 2006
Mar Roxas
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, and the son of former Senator Gerry Roxas.
Roxas was born in Quezon City in Metro Manila. He attended Ateneo de Manila University for elementary and high school education, then earned a degree in economics from Wharton School of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.
In the 2004 Philippine election, Mar Roxas ran for senator and garnered the highest number of votes. His total of 19,237,888 votes was the highest ever garnered by a national candidate in any Philippine election.
posted by Mailster at 8:24 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
ROXAS, Manuel Assets and Liabilities
Total Assets (in pesos): 116,345,491.00
Total Liabilities (in pesos): 60,464,803.00
Net Worth (in pesos): 55,880,688.00
Liabilities
ture
Amount
Subcriptions payable
15,845,806.00
Accounts payable
44,618,997.00
posted by Mailster at 4:50 AM 0 comments
Senator Mar A. Roxas
Senate Office:
5th flr., Rm. 512 GSIS Bldg., Financial Center, Roxas Blvd., Pasay City
Trunk Lines: (632) 552-6601 to 80 loc. 5524 - 26 / 5594
Direct Line: (632) 552-6688
Fax No.: (632) 552-6689
Email: marroxas@senate.gov.ph
Website: www.marroxas.com
Biography
Mar Roxas was voted No. 1 senator during the May 10, 2004 elections with total votes of 19,237,888 - the highest ever garnered by a national candidate in any Philippine election.
Even before his election as No. 1 senator, the international community and various foreign publications had taken note of his outstanding record and accomplishments as a public servant and political leader, legislator, Cabinet member and economist.
Mar Roxas has been described “as one of the young leaders in politics and business who will bring Asia and the Pacific to the forefront of world affairs”.
During the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he was acknowledged as one of the Global Leaders of Tomorrow who is expected to shape the future.
Recently, he was named the 16th Lee Kuan Yew Fellow by the Singaporean government.
Grandson of the late President Manuel Roxas and son of the late Senator Gerry Roxas, he graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University and the Wharton School of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Before joining government in 1993, Mar Roxas was an investment banker raising funds for venture capital as assistant vice president of the reputable New York-based Allen and Co., Inc. He also served as president of North Star Capitals Inc.
He became a Congressman, representing the lst District of Capiz, in 1993, and rose to prominence in the House of Representatives as Majority Leader of the 11th Congress. There he principally authored the Roxas Law or RA 7880 which established fair and equitable access to education to respective districts for sustainable development. His other landmark laws include RA 8756, providing incentives to multinational companies establishing regional headquarters in the country; RA 8557, establishing the Philippine Judiciary Academy; RA 8748, amending the Special Economic Zone Act; setting up a Public Employment Service Office in every locality; and strengthening the Professional Regulation Commission.
As Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Mar Roxas was popularly known as “Mr. Palengke”, not only because of his frequent visits to the markets, but also because of his advocacy on “Palengkenomics” which aims to develop the “palengke” as the basic unit of the economy and the root of progress.
As head of the Philippine delegation to the 5th World Trade Organization (WTO) conference on trade liberalization on September 10-14, 2003 in Cancun, Mexico, he voiced out a strong message “that they should deal with developing countries like us on equal footing and mutual respect.”
At DTI, he spearheaded the following major projects: “Tamang Timbang, Tamang Presyo” - to ensure accuracy of weighing scales and price tags to protect consumers; “Presyong Tama, Gamot Pampamilya” - to give consumers access to high quality medicine at very affordable prices (80 percent discount in various medicine); Personal Computers for Public Schools - to boost information technology by providing 30,000 computers to 2000 public high schools nationwide and by promoting business process outsourcing market that includes call centers; “Sulong” (SME Unified Lending Opportunities for National Growth) Program - to provide small and medium-scale entrepreneurs low-interest loans as well as technical and managerial trainings.
Senator Roxas is the chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs, and the Committee on Trade and Commerce in this 13th Congress. He is also a member of the bicameral Commission on Appointments.
Senate Office:
