MANILA -- Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has paid tribute to his predecessors as finance chiefs along with the other key partners of the Department of Finance (DOF) who helped it succeed in passing and implementing the Duterte administration’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) and other game-changing reform measures that prepared the Philippine economy for inclusive and sustainable high growth.

Rather than alter the major policies of his predecessors, Dominguez said the DOF on his watch as Finance Secretary updated and built on their successes to ensure policy continuity as has been done in the past. 

“Our team, which you trained and recruited, did their utmost to prepare our economy for this new world. We maximized their training and learnings to be able to pass and effectively implement the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP), which is now 90-percent complete. Throughout the process of getting these measures passed, I thank my predecessors for sharing their wisdom and valuable advice,” said Dominguez in his toast at the dinner he hosted Friday night for former DOF secretaries and the Philippines’ development partners.

The dinner was part of the DOF’s activities marking its 125th anniversary. 

Dominguez said the former DOF secretaries and other “dependable partners” brought “foresight, policy acumen, and high public esteem” to the Department, which boasts of policy continuity. 

“From one administration to the next, we improve rather than change standing policy,” he said. 

Among those who were present at the dinner were former DOF Secretaries Cesar Purisima, who is now the Executive-in-Residence of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM); Margarito Teves, Chairman of the Audit and Risk Oversight Committee of San Miguel Corp. (SMC); Roberto de Ocampo, Chairman-CEO of the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB); Jose Pardo, Chairman and Independent Director of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE); Jose Isidro Camacho, Managing Director-Vice Chairman of Asia-Pacific Credit Suisse; and Cesar Virata, the former Prime Minister and now Corporate Vice Chairman of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC). 

Also at the dinner were Ndiame Diop, the Country Director for the Philippines of the World Bank (WB); Kelly Bird, the Country Director for the Philippines of the Asian Development Bank (ADB); Paul Dominguez, Alternate Executive Director of the ADB; and officials of the DOF and its attached agencies and state financial institutions. 

Dominguez said that at the end of the Duterte administration, he is proud to say that the DOF had worked hard to maintain the Philippines’ strong fiscal position as well as prepare the economy for inclusive and sustainable high growth.

“This is merely a continuation of the great work you have done in the preceding years,” Dominguez told his predecessors. 

“So many years of excellent fiscal management involve the work of many hands, to be sure. I would like to include in this toast the professionals who served the Department and its attached agencies, our partners in the multilateral institutions, our community of bankers, and all our stakeholders, including the finance journalists, who once in a while, made the fiscal policy comprehensible to ordinary citizens. This is a continuing enterprise for the nation,” Dominguez added. (DOF)