Maintaining financial discipline at the highest levels

(Speech during the DOF 125th anniversary)

FELLOW workers in government:

This is the last anniversary of the Department that I will be participating in as your Secretary. However, it is too early to bid you goodbye. There is still much work we have to do together in the coming months before the current presidential term ends.

Let me take this opportunity to thank all of you for the excellence, passion, and commitment you have contributed over the past six years and even more. During this period, the Department of Finance broke through many fronts to prepare our economy for this new world. No secretary can say this with as much conviction as I can: I have had the honor of working with the best agency of this Republic.

Together, we are close to completing the most comprehensive tax reform program ever. The new tax system is remarkable for its simplicity, fairness, and efficiency. We now see its benefits both in stimulating domestic economic activity and providing the government with reliable revenues which it can invest for the future of our people.

Together, we maintained fiscal discipline at the highest levels. This won the country its highest credit ratings ever and we have not been downgraded. The rapid digital shift of our revenue agencies enabled revenue flow to be maintained despite the global health emergency.

Together, we advocated for the passage of vital reforms in our economic policy. The game-changing measures prepare our economy to meet the challenges of this new world. Among these measures are the Rice Tariffication Act, the Philippine Identification System Act, the Ease of Doing Business Act, and the Amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, the Public Services Act, and the Foreign Investments Act. Several other reform bills are now in the final stages of legislation. We will certainly work hard for their enactment until the last hour of the Duterte administration. Let me also remind you, that we did not only have legislation passed, we also objected to and succeeded in having several measures, that would have hurt our economy, vetoed.

The DOF also resolved the outstanding issues that kept the law on real estate investment trusts on the shelf for two decades. Once unleashed, this investment instrument demonstrated its power in aggregating capital and widening financial inclusion for our people. It supplemented other innovative bond offerings designed to broaden participation in the capital market and achieve financial inclusion among our people.

Even before any COVID-19 vaccine was tested and approved for emergency use, the DOF quickly negotiated urgent financing to procure them. This paved the way for an early and extensive vaccination program to protect our people. Budgetary support likewise was negotiated to enable us to safeguard the vulnerable against the pandemic and strengthen our public health system.

The DOF played the lead role in developing green financing to help address climate change. The ground has been broken for us to begin supporting projects that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Improving our resilience in the face of severe weather events is part of this effort. Averting a climate change crisis is the overarching challenge of the next generation.

Over the next few years, translating the reforms into real economic progress for our people will be an urgent task. Our economy is now on more solid footing and ready to compete. The DOF is preparing a comprehensive fiscal consolidation and resource mobilization plan for the next administration to ease the transition and to keep the momentum of our recovery.

The DOF plays an indispensable role in moving the Philippine society forward. I am confident that this agency will continue as it has done over the past 125 years: as the core of patriotism and excellence in our country’s governance.