Finance chief not automatic part of Monetary Board —BSP execs

TAGAYTAY CITY —Being appointed as secretary of the Department of Finance (DOF) does not automatically mean that the person heading the government’s finance portfolio will be sitting in the powerful Monetary Board, officials of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday.

Based on the list of Monetary Board members presented by the BSP, the policy-setting body of the central bank is not yet complete since there are only six members comprised of BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr., as chairman; V. Bruce Tolentino, Anita Linda Aquino, Romeo Bernardo, former National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon, and the latest addition former Finance secretary Benjamin Diokno as members.

During the media information session, BSP officials were asked why newly appointed Finance Secretary Ralph Recto is not yet sitting in the Monetary Board.

In response, BSP Deputy Governor Francisco Dakila Jr. said, “It’s not necessarily [the DOF Secretary], it's not automatic… it depends on the appointment.”

“There were times that the government representative [to the Monetary Board] was NEDA secretary, meron din time na DTI [secretary],” Dakila said.

The BSP charter or the New Central Bank Act provides that the government sector member of the Monetary Board must also be a member of the Cabinet designated by the President.

For his part, BSP Deputy Governor Eduardo Bobier explained that the BSP charter only says that the government representative to the Monetary Board should be a Cabinet secretary.

“For now, there's an appointed secretary of Finance, but personally, I’m  not sure if the secretary of Finance will sit as a member of the Board…,” said Bobier.

Previous Finance chiefs who also sit in the Monetary Board include Carlos Dominguez III during the Duterte administration and Diokno during the first and a half year of the Marcos administration.

The Monetary Board is an influential body since it exercises the powers and functions of the BSP such as the conduct of monetary policy and supervision of the financial system.

The body is also tasked to ensure price stability through inflation targeting and monetary policy actions.—AOL, GMA Integrated News