President Duterte has retained former socioeconomic planning secretary Felipe Medalla and appointed two new members—Peter Favila and Dr. Antonio Abacan Jr.—to the Monetary Board (MB), the Department of Finance (DOF) said Wednesday.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Medalla, Favila and Abacan will serve a fixed term of six years each as provided under the New Central Bank Act.
Dominguez welcomed the President’s decision to retain Medalla in, and name Abacan and Favila, to the Board at a time when both continuity and reforms are needed to maintain the country’s resilient and stable fiscal environment.
“Alongside the appointment of BSP deputy governor as the next governor of the central bank, the President’s selection of Favila and Abacan as the new members of the Monetary Board will keep the BSP in good hands over the medium term,” Dominguez, also an MB member, said.
“They were carefully chosen by the President to ensure that we continue with fiscal policies that would help sustain our growth momentum and attract more investments. I am certain that Messrs. Medalla, Favila and Abacan will carry on the great service set by their predecessors,” Dominguez said.
Abacan and Favila replaced Armando Suratos and former Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) chairman Alfredo Antonio who are scheduled to step down this year.
Dominguez also thanked Suratos and Antonio for their outstanding service and contributions in helping craft policies under outgoing BSP Gov Amando Tetangco that were instrumental in transforming the Philippine economy into one of the world’s fastest growing, while keeping interest rates low, inflation manageable and the local currency stable.
The powers and function of the BSP are exercised by its MB, which has seven members appointed by the President of the Philippines.
The newly announced appointments complete the membership of the board, which includes Dominguez, Juan De Zuniga Jr., and Valentin Araneta, and its would-be chairman, incoming BSP Gov. Espenilla who will assume office on July 3.
Medalla, who first served in the MB in 2011, was the director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) from July 1998 to January 2001. He also served as director of the PNOC-Exploration Corp., and as independent director of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC).
A professor and former dean at the School of Economics of the University of the Philippines (UP), Medalla also served as president of the Philippine Economics Society and as chairman of the Foundation for Economic Freedom. He was also a director of the Asia United Bank Corp.
Medalla has undergraduate degrees in Economics and Accounting from De La Salle University, a masteral degree in Economics from UP and a Doctorate in Economics from Northwestern University.
Favila returns after three years to the Monetary Board where he earlier served as its member from 2008 to 2014.
Besides serving as former DTI chief from 2005 to 2010, Favila was once president of the Allied Banking Corp. and president-CEO of the Philippine National Bank. He served as a consultant to the BSP and CDC Holdings Inc. and was chairman-president of the Philippine Stock Exchange from 2001 to 2005.
Favila obtained his Bachelor of Science in Commerce Major in Banking and Finance from the University of Santo Tomas and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Abacan also held several high-level positions in the banking industry–president of Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) from 1993 to April 2006 and of the Philippine Savings Bank and Unibancard Corp. from 1988 to 1991. He is currently the group vice chairman of the Metrobank Group.
He also served as president of the then-Philippine Drug Abuse Resistance Education (PHILDARE). Abacan was also an adviser at Thomas Cook (Philippines) Inc., Philippine AXA Life Insurance Corporation and Metropolitan Bank (Bahamas) Ltd., and GT Capital Holdings.
Abacan is also a senior adviser at the First Metro Investment Corp., Federal Land, and Toyota Manila Bay Corp.; and chairman of the board of Toyota Financial Services (Phils) Inc.
Abacan earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, major in Banking and Finance and in Accounting from the Mapua Institute of Technology and Far Eastern University, respectively. He received his Doctorate in Business Administration (Honoris Causa) from the Philippine Women’s University and is a graduate of the Executive Program of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1991.
