Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III swore into office last week former Sen. Alberto Romulo as the new chairman of the board of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
Rogelio Garcia also took his oath of office before Dominguez as a director of the DBP board.
Romulo brings with him to the DBP his extensive experience in both the executive and legislative branches of government.
He has served as the Secretary of the Department of Finance (DOF) and of Foreign Affairs (DFA), budget minister, and also as Executive Secretary in the Arroyo administration. He returned to head the DFA during the presidency of Benigno Aquino III.
As DFA Secretary, Romulo had pushed for the congressional approval of the Philippine Archipelagic Baselines Law, which, prior to his watch, had not been acted upon for 27 years. His efforts to have the law passed paved the way for the government to secure its claim in the United Nations for an extended continental shelf covering an area as big as Luzon.
Romulo also worked for the passage of the Veterans Benefit Enhancement Act in the US Congress, benefiting Filipino veterans who had then been waiting for 60 years to have the law passed.
He was also named a key member of the economic team of President Corazon Aquino during the transition period following the 1986 People Power Revolution, undertaking the mammoth task of reinstating the stable fiscal status of the then-Central Bank and government financial institutions, which were bankrupt and insolvent at that time.
Romulo has likewise served as chairperson of both the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp., a governor of the Asian Development Bank and alternate governor in the International Monetary Fund. He sat as member of the Monetary Board twice, first during the Corazon Aquino administration and later during the Arroyo presidency.
Having served as senator in the 8th, 9th and 10th Congresses, Romulo authored and sponsored several landmark pieces of economic legislation, among them, the Republic Act 7653 or the New Central Bank Act, RA 8282 that further strengthened the Social Security System, RA 7169 or the Philippine Veterans Bank Act, and RA 7640 or the law constituting the Joint Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).
Romulo, a Doctors of Laws, completed his doctorate at the Universidad de Madrid. He is also a certified public accountant.
Garcia, a practicing lawyer prior to his appointment to the DBP, is a former member of the Batasang Pambansa and was Deputy Minister in the Department of Labor and Employment.
He had served as director of the Manila International Airport Authority and held various high-level positions in the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Mindanao.
Garcia is also the PDP-Laban regional president for the South Cotabato-Cotabato-Sultan Kudarat-Saranggani-General Santos (SOCCSKSARGEN) region.
He completed his law degree at San Beda College in Manila.
