Retirement

July 2, 2020 marked the last day of my term as a member of the Monetary Board of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), a position I held for 6 years. My tenure at BSP totaled 37 years, which included having served as deputy governor, general counsel and head of the security printing plant. Prior to these positions, I also served in a commercial bank, the Bank of Commerce, for about 10 years where I reached the position of executive vice president while serving concurrently as general counsel.

This is my third parting from the central bank, having retired two times before, but somehow, providentially or through coincidence, I kept coming back. I found fulfilling the work there on policy formulation and on dealing with the entire financial and banking systems, fortified by the solid reputation and image of the BSP. It was indeed a rare privilege to perform such public service. I will surely miss my work, my colleagues, and my work environs, which have been my second home for more than half my lifetime. It is thus but natural to be sentimental on my third retirement. But somehow, that feeling has been alleviated when BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno so good-naturedly approved a consultancy for me. Thus, it is not a total parting since in that capacity I would still contribute to the work in BSP.

July 2, 2020 was symbolic because it coincided as a Monetary Board meeting day. After tackling our business for the day, my colleagues in the Monetary Board gave me a toast and a warm send-off with lots of words of encouragement. Let me now reprint the message I delivered on that occasion:

“It has been an honor serving the Bangko Sentral and the Monetary Board. It has been an honor working with my colleagues in the Board, with the deputy governors, general counsel, and with all other dedicated men and women of BSP.

“I have served nine (9) governors, including Governor Benjamin Diokno, and Cabinet representatives in the Monetary Board, including Secretary Carlos Dominguez, and I can sincerely say that all of them served with distinction.

“I have experienced several milestones here which, on the positive side, included the progressive legislation in favor of BSP, and the many awards bestowed on BSP and its leaders by both domestic and international organizations. These milestones also included difficult challenges such as bank closures to stabilize the banking system, the adversarial cases arising therefrom, the debt moratorium, the Asian Financial Crisis and the Global Financial Crisis, and I can truly say also that the BSP successfully dealt with and surmounted these challenges.

“Each challenge was a peculiar one and cannot be resolved simply on the basis of experience and precedent. The best example is the COVID-19 pandemic which has been unprecedented and unparalleled in our history. To stabilize the economy, the Governor and the Monetary Board have been pro-active in wielding BSP’s authority, drawing more on their wisdom and fortitude, comprehensive knowledge, fearless decision-making and their strong commitment to serve the Filipino people. The task is not yet over since the pandemic is still here, but as I retire from the Monetary Board, I offer my congratulations to the BSP and to the Chairman and to my colleagues in the Monetary Board for excellent performance.

“My thanks also to the Secretary to the Monetary Board and his predecessor and to their staff for their support and service which have been outstanding.

“Once again, my thanks to everybody.

“Mabuhay tayong lahat!”

The above comments are the personal views of the writer. His email address is jzuniga@bsp. gov.ph