BUSINESS CORRIDOR
Today, June 30, is the last day for Felipe “Philip” M. Medalla as Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
A year after he became the resident 501, the coveted room in the five-storey, building of the BSP Governor Medalla will be back wearing his old, but never a tattered, economic professor hat.
Talking to him Wednesday morning was, actually, a breath of fresh air. One can easily sense his good-natured qualities, amiable and cheerful amidst the relatively melancholic feeling any person smarts while counting the days before finally saying goodbye to his 501 support staff, the entire workforce of the BSP as well as his community stakeholders - the bankers, market players and market movers.
His obliging disposition makes Gov. Philip very spontaneous, a trait tha is lacking to some of those serving the Cabinet/government despite the fact that he came in at the “most challenging” times in our political and financial history.
Actually, in my books, the Governor and President Marcos took their respective positions with all eyes looking at them, some expressing reservations and apprehensions.
Looking back, while all hands remain on deck with our economy still in a relatively fragile position, both, respectively, have done a good job, coming in with multiple and tangled layers of crises, internal and external.
The circumstance they both faced was a result of external factors – the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the global economies – continue to grapple from the tail end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The President inherited an unprecedented and abnormal situation and frail foreign relations with the South China Sea tensions breathing on our neck and the entire bureaucracy in a bit of disarray.
Thus, it would be the height of irony if one should assess this governance in a presidency in a normal way. For me, he is addressing the South China Sea issue “not in a radical way but, instead, in a conventional way.” He was able to institute appropriate policy directions and government actions.
Similarly situated was Gov. Philip, who was facing the demons of inflation with prices of gas and basic commodities, like the ordinary onions needed in every Filipino household for cooking, virtually shooting the roof.
“I came in a dangerous and difficult period. It was the longest, straight month of high inflation. I had to increase the monetary policy rate (cumulatively at 425 basis points) more than the previous governors ever did,” Gov. Philip capsulized his one-year stint.
And, he admitted that his responses were born out of learnings from the passions of his predecessors, namely Gov. Amando M. Tetangco, Jr., the longest 501 resident and graded Triple AAA central banker for eight years, and the late Nestor A. Espenilla. He worked with both in his 11-years as member of the Monetary Board before taking the helm. “I benefitted from those two governors.”
Yesterday, shortly after steering his last Monetary Board meeting, the 501 staff tendered their despedida party for Gov. Philip, whom Ernesto Suarez described as “low-profile, down to earth, fatherly and super approachable.”
Today, I heard there will be a surprise send-off prepared by the directors and senior officers of the sectors directly under his supervision that include BSP Research Academy, Office of the Strategy Management, Internal Audit Office, Risk and Compliance Office, Technology and Digital Innovation Office, and AMLAC Secretariat.
As the wheels of turnover spin, his last request to me: “Be good and support my successor,” the internationally renowned Eli Remolona. Much obliged Gov. Philip.
Talk to me at [email protected]