President Duterte has appointed Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno as new Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor.
Diokno, hours after his appointment, said the BSP is, first and foremost, tasked to provide a fertile ground for inclusive growth. “The role of the BSP is to ensure steady sustained growth that is inclusive, in a regime of price stability,” Diokno said.
He will replace the late Gov. Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. who passed away last Feb. 23 from tongue cancer.
Diokno, who will turn 71 this month, said inclusive growth and the BSP’s role of ensuring that it is sustained are “the same objectives of the Duterte administration.”
Diokno said he feels “fine” after confirming that he is indeed the next BSP governor, besting market, economists, and the banking sector’s favorites, which are the three BSP insiders – Deputy Governors Diwa C. Guinigundo, Ma. Cyd Tuano-Amador, and Chuchi G. Fonacier. Tuano-Amador is the Monetary Board-designated officer-in-charge.
“I’m an economist by training so I have the appropriate academic background,” said Diokno. “My various high level assignments have prepared me well for interfacing with heads of international and domestic financial institutions,” he added.
Diokno will assume the unexpired term of Espenilla who was supposed to serve a six-year term, from July 3, 2017 to July 3, 2023.
He will be the BSP’s fifth governor and under the BSP charter, recently amended by Republic Act No. 11211, the BSP governor will not have to go through the Commission on Appointments to be confirmed.
Senators yesterday welcomed the appointment of Diokno to the BSP.
Sen. Francis Joseph “Chiz” G. Escudero commended Duterte for appointing Diokno to the post.
“This will certainly ensure the stability, continuity, and predictability of the country’s fiscal policies and gains. I wish him well!” Escudero said in a text message.
Escudero, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions, and Currencies, rejected insinuations that Diokno’s transfer to the BSP from the Department of Budget and Management has something to do with the issues leveled against him by Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya, former House majority leader and now head of the House Committee on Appropriations.
“I don’t think so because I consider his appointment to the position of BSP governor as a ‘promotion’ given that: Instead of handling merely the finances of the government, he will now be responsible for the monetary policy and financial system of the country,” Escudero explained. (Lee C. Chipongian and Hannah L. Torregoza)
