Roxas ends ‘semi-retirement;’ to run for Senate seat – sources

Former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II

Former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II has opted to end his “semi-retirement” from politics and mount a return to the Senate in next year’s midterm elections, two sources told the Inquirer on Monday.

One of the sources said Roxas, the grandson and namesake of the late President Manuel Roxas, would announce his decision to join the senatorial race later in the day.

“He will be filing his certificate of candidacy before the Comelec (Commission on Elections) on Tuesday,” said the source, who asked not to be named for lack of authority to speak on the matter.

Roxas, who topped the senatorial elections in 2004 with nearly 19.4 million votes, had stayed away from politics and the public eye after placing second to President Duterte in the May 2016 national elections. /ac