Remembering Dinggoy Roxas, Gemmo Trinidad
“Sadly, Dinggoy’s legislative career ended in 1993 when he succumbed to colon cancer”
This month marks the birth anniversary of a great Filipino, and the recent death of dedicated public servant.
On October 21, 1960, Gerardo Roxas Jr. was born in Manila, to Gerardo Roxas Sr. and Judy Araneta Roxas. “Dinggoy,” as he came to be called by family and friends, was the youngest of three siblings.
His political and social pedigree is impeccable.
Manuel Acuña Roxas, the first President of the Republic of the Philippines (1946-1948), is his paternal grandfather.
His dad Gerardo Sr. was a member of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the Philippines representing the first district of Capiz (1957-1963), and a senator (1963-1972). Former Senator Mar Roxas is his elder brother.
Dinggoy’s maternal lineage is traced to his grandfather, the pioneering industrialist J. Amado Araneta, who developed the Araneta Center in Cubao, Quezon City.
The young Roxas’ uncle is businessman and philanthropist Jorge “Nene” Araneta, who successfully continued the vision of the Araneta patriarch, and is listed as among the wealthiest Filipinos by Forbes magazine for the past several years.
While studying Law in the University of the Philippines in Diliman in 1983, the dashing, good-looking Dinggoy followed the footsteps of his father and uncle and joined UP’s prestigious Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity.
The fraternity’s roster includes the names of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., Vice President Salvador “Doy” Laurel, and Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.
In 1987, Dinggoy’s natural charm and popular appeal allowed him to reprise his father’s political career by winning a seat in the House of Representatives for the first district of Capiz. At 26 years old, he became the youngest congressman of that era.
The hard-working congressman served two terms in the House, where he was known as the champion of state-sponsored education for poor but deserving young Filipinos.
Despite Dinggoy’s political and economic pedigree, the inately humble solon very often mingled with ordinary people in marketplaces, sidewalks and parking lots in Capiz and in Metropolitan Manila, without identifying himself a
