Jose Roy
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Jose de Jesus Roy Sr. (July 19, 1904 – March 14, 1986) was a Filipino lawyer,
economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
, and
politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
who served for 25 consecutive years as a
congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...
and
senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
in the
Congress of the Philippines The Congress of the Philippines () is the legislature of the national government of the Philippines. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of an upper body, the Senate of the Philippines, Senate, and a lower body, the House of Representatives ...
. Known as the "poor man's economist", he drafted, authored and sponsored laws to improve the lot of the peasantry. As a member of Congress, he took particular pride in the sponsorship of almost all laws on land reform. He is also considered to be the "Father of the Philippine Banking System" because of his authorship and involvement in almost all the major finance and tariff measures since the beginning of the
Third Philippine Republic Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...
in 1946.


Early life

Roy was born and raised in Moncada, Tarlac. His family were
tenant farmers A tenant farmer is a farmer or farmworker who resides and works on land owned by a landlord, while tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and mana ...
and he attended public schools. As a young boy, his first ambition was to become a writer and one of the topics he wrote on for a school paper was crop-sharing. Seeing and much affected by the oppression surrounding the farmers around him, he thought crop-sharing would be the best remedy for the life of disparity that existed between the wealthy landlords and the poverty-stricken tenant farmers. Roy worked his way through college and graduated from the
University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; ) is a Higher education in the Philippines#State universities and colleges, state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by List of Philippine laws, Re ...
with a
Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...
degree in 1930. To help finance his studies he worked as a clerk in the Bureau of Civil Service and rose to the position of examiner. With his knowledge of Spanish, English, Filipino, Ilocano and Pampango, he became the deputy secretary and interpreter in the Public Service Commission. While still a law student, he was a known campus leader and orator for which distinctions he was the recipient of several medals. Roy carried over this leadership when he ran for Representative for the first district of Tarlac under the Liberal Party. After passing the Bar Examination in 1930, Roy was appointed Special Attorney in the Public Service Commission. He was just one of three public utility practitioners who specialized in transportation. The following year Roy resigned his position in the commission and went into private practice as a corporate lawyer. In 1936 he expanded his practice organizing mining corporations during the mining boom. His career flourished until the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
broke out in December of 1941. In 1942 Jose Roy retired his practice to join the resistance movement during the war.


Political career

After the war in 1946, the first elections were held. The Liberal presidential nominee that time was then-Senator
Manuel Roxas Manuel Acuña Roxas (; January 1, 1892 – April 15, 1948) was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the fifth president of the Philippines from 1946 until his death in 1948. He served briefly as the third and last President of the ...
, who persuaded Roy to run for
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
seat. Roy agreed only after being promised that if they won, Roxas would consider supporting the 70-30 Rice Crop Sharing law he was planning to author. This law would provide that 70% of the rice crop be given to the tenant farmers and 30% to the landowners in all rice-producing regions of the Philippines and, after studying the matter, Roxas found that it had its merits. The 1946 election was a very difficult one. Roy was elected to congress as representative of the 1st district of Tarlac. He was the lone Liberal Party candidate to win in Central Luzon. Over the next 16 years, Roy was elected to four consecutive terms as congressman of Tarlac's 1st District. He was instrumental in the drafting and passage of important finance and socio-economic measures which he authored and sponsored on the floor of the House of Representatives from 1946 to 1961, among which are; the Central Bank Act, Rehabilitation Finance Corporation Act (R.A.85), the Development Bank Act, the General Banking Act, the Rural Banks Act (R.A.720), Philippine Veterans Bank Act (R.A. 3518), the Philippines Deposit Insurance Corporation Act (R.A.3591); the Industrialization Act (R.A.901); Ramie Incentive Act, Agricultural Tenancy Act, 70-30 Rice Share Tenancy Act, Land Tenure Act, the Land Reform Code (R.A.3844), the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA3019), Savings and Loan Association Act (R.A.3799), the Congressional 5-Year Development Plan, Tax Exemption to Basic Industries, Laurel-Langley Agreement, the Tariff and Customs Code of 1957, an Act providing the creation, organization and operation of an internal audit service for all departments, bureaus and offices of the National government otherwise known as the Internal Audit Act (R.A.3456) are among some of the measures he had authored and sponsored. He was a member of the Philippine Council of Leaders, the Development Council, the
Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...
and Security Council. In the general election of 1961, Roy was elected as senator for the Fifth Congress. He was one of only two
Nacionalista Party The Nacionalista Party (Filipino language, Filipino and Spanish language in the Philippines, Spanish: ''Partido Nacionalista''; , NP) is a political party in the Philippines which is the oldest existing party in the country and in Southeast Asi ...
senatorial candidates who was elected. In the November 14, 1967 Senate election, Roy garnered the highest number of votes in his re-election bid for senator receiving over 51 percent of the votes and more than half a million votes over his nearest pursuer. He was the lone incumbent to defend his seat. The Nacionalista Party won seven of the eight possible senate seats. As senator, Roy was elected as the Majority Floor Leader and later that year President Pro-tempore of the Sixth Congress in 1966 and President Pro-tempore of the Seventh Congress. He was a member of the
Commission on Appointments The Commission on Appointments (, abbreviated as CA) is a constitutional body which confirms or rejects certain political appointments made by the President of the Philippines. The current commission was created by the 1987 Constitution. Whil ...
and chaired the Committee on Ways and Means, Committee on Rules and Foreign Relations Committee As President Pro-tempore, Roy urged then
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...
to reduce the power of various political warlords throughout the country by forcing them to disband their private armies. His efforts failed, however, and the Seventh Congress was eventually abolished when Marcos declared
martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...
in 1972.


Other

Roy had the distinction of being the only legislator in both houses to serve continuously for 25 years. He never lost an election. Roy was the only member of Congress who was chosen as one of the Ten Best Congressmen each year from 1948 to 1961 by civic organizations, members of the press and national periodicals. An experienced speaker and debater who had a knack for explaining the intricacies of economics, banking and finance in terms understandable to the masses, he was quite popular with the Filipino people. In his time, Roy was a frequent delegate to international conferences. He represented the country as a delegate to the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
in 1950, 1952, 1968 and 1969. In 1952, he was a delegate to the
International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...
and World Bank Conference in Mexico City, and in Washington DC in 1954 and 1956. He was the guest speaker in the Far East Conference and the Far East-American Council of Commerce and Industry in New York City in 1952. He was also delegate of the Philippine Economic Mission for the revision of the Phil-US Trade Act in Washington DC in 1954. Roy was designated a member of the 5-man Presidential Committee which drafted the final revision of the Bell Act. In 1958, by invitation of Her Majesty's Government, Roy was an official guest of the British Government for a
goodwill tour Cultural diplomacy is a type of soft power that includes the "exchange of ideas, information, art, language and other aspects of culture among nations and their peoples in order to foster mutual understanding". The purpose of cultural diplomac ...
of the United Kingdom. In 1960, Roy made an economic survey of Scandinavian countries and of Western Europe. In 1962 he was a member of the Philippine delegate to the Inter-Parliamentary Congress Conference in Brazilia, Brazil. Member of the Joint Phil-US Veterans Commission to Washington DC. Roy headed the 1969 Philippine delegation to the Inaugural Conference of the Asian Coconut Community in Ceylon and delegate to the 1970 Pacific Asia Conference of Ministers in Jakarta and the SEATO Ministers conference in Manila. Roy was a lifetime member of the Philippine Historical Society, Knight Commander of the
Knights of Rizal The Knights of Rizal ( Spanish: ''Orden de Caballeros de Rizál''; Filipino: ''Mga Maginoo ni Rizal''; sometimes abbreviated as KOR) is an order of chivalry of the Philippines, created to honor and uphold the ideals of the de facto Philippine ...
, president of the Philippine Philatelic Association as well as a lifetime member of several veterans' organizations. He was the
chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...
of the 5th General Conference of the
World Anti-Communist League The World League for Freedom and Democracy (WLFD) is an international non-governmental organization of anti-communist politicians and groups. It was founded in 1954 as the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League (APACL) under the initiative of C ...
and a member of the Asian People Anti-Communist League. Roy also served as chairman of the
board of trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...
of the Angeles University Foundation, a university in
Angeles, Pampanga Angeles (), officially the City of Angeles (; ), is a highly urbanized city in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 462,928 people. Angeles is the largest city of Pampanga. While p ...
. Outside of public service, Roy remained a stalwart of the Philippine Bar. He was one of the moving spirits of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and was elected president of the Philippine Lawyers Association in 1968 while managing Jose J. Roy and Associates Law Offices.


Personal life

Jose de Jesus Roy Sr. was married to Consolacion Ruiz Domingo (Dec. 26, 1910 - Aug. 5, 1992) and had three children, Jose Domingo Roy Jr., Vilma Domingo Roy-Duavit and Ronald Domingo Roy.


Death

Jose Roy died on March 14, 1986. He is buried beside wife Consolacion Ruiz Domingo at Loyola Memorial Park.


Gallery

File:Jose Roy family graves3.jpg, Jose Roy mausoleum File:Jose Roy family graves2.jpg, Jose Roy mausoleum 2 File:Jose_Roy_family_graves1.jpg, Grave marker


External links

*


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Jose 1904 births 1986 deaths Members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from Tarlac Presidents pro tempore of the Senate of the Philippines Majority leaders of the Senate of the Philippines Senators of the 7th Congress of the Philippines Senators of the 6th Congress of the Philippines Senators of the 5th Congress of the Philippines Liberal Party (Philippines) politicians Democratic Party (Philippines) politicians Nacionalista Party politicians Presidents of the Nacionalista Party 20th-century Filipino lawyers 20th-century Filipino economists University of the Philippines alumni People from Tarlac