Who’s Who in Bataan – JUDGE ROMAN A. CRUZ SR. & ROMAN A. CRUZ JR.

JUDGE ROMAN A. CRUZ SR. of Orani was the father of former Press Secretary/Ambassador J.V. Cruz, and Roman Cruz Jr., erstwhile president of PAL, Manila Hotel and the Government Service Insurance System.

Judge Roman Cruz was Bataan’s delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1934. Roman Cruz Sr. was born and grew up in Centro I, at the family property currently occupied by the Village Savings Bank. He was trained as a lawyer and served as presiding judge of various CFI branches in Manila.

He made frontpage news as the presiding judge who in 1939 penned the decision that Ferdinand Marcos, about to finish law school at the University of the Philippines, was guilty of the murder of Julio Nalundasan. The victim was the same man who defeated Marcos’ father, Mariano, during the 1935 congressional polls for the Second District of Ilocos Norte.

In 1940, the Supreme Court overturned Marcos’ conviction and made him a free man. The justice who penned the decision was Jose Laurel, who had attended the UP Law School and was a bar topnotcher just like Marcos.

Inspite of the past animosity between Judge Roman and Ferdinand Marcos, two of his sons received extra-ordinary favors when the latter become President of the country. JV and Roman Jr. became close friends of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.

After his death, a flush community in Barangay JRC-Mandama, in Hermosa, was named Judge Roman Cruz Sr. Subdivision.

ROMAN CRUZ JR. was the former Secretary of Finance and general manager of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) which took over the Philippine Airlines in October 1977. He was also named president of the Philippine national flag carrier from 1977 until 1986.

Roman Cruz Jr. is the son of the late Judge Roman Cruz Sr., the man who found Ferdinand Marcos as guilty of the murder of Julio Nalundasan. He was a TOYM awardee for Economics in 1968.

Despite the past enmity between Marcos and Judge Roman, Roman Cruz Jr. became one of the closest friends of Marcos and Imelda who were allowed access to capital and credit based not only on their ability but on their closeness to the First Family. In effect, Cruz was acknowledged by the public as one of those who controlled the Philippine economy during the Marcos regime.

At the beginning, Cruz was appointed by Marcos as general manager of the GSIS. In October 1977, the government-controlled corporation took over the management of the Philippine Airlines (PAL).

After the takeover, Roman Jr. was made president of PAL and president of Manila Hotel. But despite his past association with the Marcoses, no charges of graft and corruption were ever filed against Roman Jr. after the fall of the dictatorial regime.