By Clarist Zablan
(January 11, 2024) – The House Speaker’s key ally and a finance expert has been tapped to replace Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, an official in Malacañang said on Thursday.
Batangas Congressman Ralph Recto will take his oath on Friday as the second finance secretary in the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Press Secretary Cheloy Garafil said
Frederick Go, a relative of the late tycoon John Gokongwei, would also be sworn in as special assistant to the president for investment and economic affairs.
Garafil gave no details on why Diokno was replaced. Still, there were speculations Diokno was eased out to appease soldiers and other uniformed personnel protesting against reforms in the pension fund.
Congress would appoint a legislative caretaker for Batangas’s 6th district, similar to the case of Valenzuela Congressman Rex Gatchalian when he was named as social welfare secretary.
Recto’s appointment was first announced by his wife and former lawmaker Vilma Santos-Recto and other lawmakers’ statements.
Itatalagang secretary ng Department of Finance #DOF si 6th District, Batangas Rep. Ralph Recto, ayon sa asawa niyang si dating representative Vilma Santos-Recto sa isang panayam at mga pahayag ng mga senador at kongresista. #News5 pic.twitter.com/32EqLOu2LK
— News5 (@News5PH) January 11, 2024
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, Recto’s former colleague in the Upper House, expressed confidence that he would be a “good finance secretary who would continue to push the country along the road to greater economic prosperity.”
Based on Recto’s resume on the Senate website, he served as a senator for two terms from 2010 to 2022, taking the 2nd highest position in the Upper House as Senate President Pro Tempore in the 16th and 18th Congress.
He also served as a minority floor leader in the 17th Congress during the first three years of then-president Rodrigo Duterte’s term. Still, he replaced Franklin Drilon as Senate President Pro Tempore in 2017 after senators under the once-ruling Liberal Party were pushed out of the majority bloc.
He was also a senator for one term from 2001 to 2007 but lost his reelection bid, which analysts attributed to his authorship of the controversial Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT) law.
Between his first and second term as senator, Recto was appointed Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Director General of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) by then-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from 2008 to 2009.
Before this, he served as an independent director of Union Bank.
Rumors have been swirling that Diokno would be replaced as finance chief since last year. Diokno, in a Bilyonaryo report, declined to confirm nor deny the rumors.
(MM)
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