ALEJANDRO REYES ROCES

(13 July 1924 – 23 May 2011)

Alejandro Roces was a Filipino author, essayist, dramatist and a National Artist of
the Philippines for literature. He served as Secretary of Education from 1962 to 1965,
during the term of Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal. Noted for his short stories,
the Manila-born Roces was married to Irene Yorston Viola (granddaughter of Maximo
Viola), with whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth Roces-Pedrosa.
He attended elementary and high school at the Ateneo de Manila University,
before moving to the University of Arizona and then Arizona State University for his
tertiary education. He graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts and, not long after, attained his
M.A. from the Far Eastern University back in the Philippines. He has since received
honorary doctorates from Toyo University, Baguio's St. Louis University, Polytechnic
University of the Philippines, and the Ateneo de Manila University. Roces was a captain
in the Marking’s Guerilla during World War II and a columnist in Philippine dailies such
as the Manila Chronicle and the Manila Times. He was previously President of the
Manila Bulletin and of the CAP College Foundation. In 2001, Roces was appointed as
Chairman of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).
Roces also became a member of the Board of Trustees of GSIS (Government Service
Insurance System) and maintained a column in the Philippine Star called Roses and
Thorns.
Prepared by: Anne Jealyn Vergara