MAR ROXAS
Manuel "Mar" Araneta Roxas II (born May 13, 1957) is a Filipino politician and the grandson of former Philippine President Manuel Roxas. He is a candidate in the 2016 Philippine presidential election. He served in the Cabinet of the Philippines as Secretary of the Interior and Local Government from 2012 to 2015. Previously, he was the Secretary of Trade and Industry from 2000 to 2003, a Senator from 2004 to 2010, and Secretary of Transportation and Communications from 2011 to 2012. He is the son of former Senator Gerry Roxas.
With a degree in economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Roxas worked as an investment banker in New York, mobilizing venture capital funds for small and medium enterprises. He served as the Representative of the 1st District of Capiz 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 EDSA Revolution of 2001 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 Philippine election. He was elected as Senator with 19 million votes and the highest ever garnered by a national candidate in any Philippine election. He was co-author of the Expanded Value Added Tax Law (E-Vat).
Initially one of the leading contenders 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. He was defeated by Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) by the narrowest margin in the history of the Fifth Republic. However, Roxas filed an electoral protest with the Supreme Court of the Philippines, the Court sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal.
On June 7, 2011, President Benigno Aquino III appointed Roxas as the new Secretary of Transportation and Communications 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 Secretary of Interior and Local Government, replacing Jesse Robredo, who died in a plane crash.
Roxas is the standard-bearer of the Liberal Party for the 2016 presidential elections in the Philippines. On July 31, 2015, at an event dubbed as "A Gathering of Friends", he was officially endorsed by President Benigno Aquino III to continue the present administration's reforms, collectively dubbed "Daang Matuwid" (straight path). In the presence of their political allies at Club Filipino, where Roxas had announced his decision to withdraw from the 2010 presidential election and gave way to Aquino's presidential bid, Roxas formally accepted his party's nomination. On the same day, Roxas formally launched his campaign website.
On August 3, 2015, Roxas officially tendered his resignation as Secretary of the Interior and Local Government in order to focus on his presidential campaign.