Response of Mr. Amando M. Tetangco Jr.

A HIGHER GOAL: Letting one’s inner light shine on others 
 

 

Board of Trustees, Officials and Faculty of Ateneo, Students, Parents, Fellow Awardees, Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

 

I am deeply honored… and at the same time, humbled by this award. Humbled because it is an award coming from the institution that provided me the academic training and shaped the truths and  values that have guided me in my professional and private life ever since.

 

To be perfectly honest, being BSP Governor was not a life goal for me. You may have heard me say on other occasions that I wanted to be either a medical doctor or a law-yer… Well, I did not become either, I became an economist and central banker instead… So, I did the better thing – I encouraged and supported my children in their own fields…. Now my son is a lawyer and my first daughter is a doctor! And because I didn’t have a “third” wish, my youngest, the literary, creative one in our family, has chosen to follow her passion. 

 

Looking back, I became BSP Governor through the series of fortuitous decisions and ac-tions that I took.  I joined the Central Bank in 1974 after spending about a year working in SGV & Co. I intended to stay in CB only for a couple of years. However, as I found the work interesting and meaningful, I became engrossed  in it so much so that I forgot to leave and ended up serving in the BSP for 43 years. 

 

I would say, my career was a combination of just doing the next thing, and doing it well, every time!  To some of you, this may sound rather simplistic. But, friends, it is not. You see every decision one makes either leads you to a good door… or a bad door… Your “next thing”, could therefore be “good” or “bad” depending on how you decide in the present.  This is not fatalism, but rather influencing what is next to come.             

 

To be clear, while excellence and discipline are wonderful traits to have, they are not enough to lead you to the “good” doors.  A key element is to have a “higher purpose” for why you are disciplined and attempt to excel in what you do in the first place. 

 

This higher purpose is what the Ateneo education cemented in me – “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.”  This is a phrase that is at times uttered loosely, like it were a mere slogan. But, friends, AMDG is a core value  -- a “north star” of sorts if you may -- that has struck a deep chord in me while I was here... because it was also a value that my par-ents had tried to instill in me very early in life. 

 

To do all things for the glory of One greater than we, to find Him in all things …in our daily lives, to be men (and women) for others. 

 

I did not make being BSP Governor my life-goal. But, when I became BSP Governor in 2005, I made a conscious decision to give it my best, and to make the most of my God-given ability, to be a good governor that the BSP and the country deserved.

 

Central banking for a higher goal
 

The primary mandate of the BSP is price and financial stability. But, its ultimate goal is to help ensure a high quality of life for all Filipinos. This was very clear to me and re-mained a focus in my entire tenure. 

· While we navigated monetary policy to keep inflation low and stable, I knew that the goal was really to ensure that the purchasing power of everyone’s hard earned money was not eroded. 

· While BSP set the policy interest rates at the level that would keep just the right amount of money circulating in the system, the goal really was to ensure small businesses and companies can access funds to start businesses, keep them run-ning smoothly, and even plan for expansion, at a price commensurate to the risks they are taking. 

· While BSP set prudential banking regulations and supervised banks against global standards, this really was to ensure that you and I could trust banks and be confident to deposit our money and do business with them, knowing that the banks are safe and stable. 

· While BSP made sure the exchange rate is determined by market forces, BSP also guarded against excessive exchange rate volatility, because we knew that erratic movements could alarm exporters, importers, our OFW families and others whose budget lines are directly affected by the exchange rate. 

· In other words, it was always for the improvement of the welfare of the people.

 

On my second year as BSP Governor, we pre-paid all our outstanding debt to the IMF, and for the first time in four decades the Philippines was declared debt-free from that lender in 2006 and soon after, became a creditor to the IMF. While these accomplish-ments may not seem that relevant to the general public, they signaled to the global community that the Philippines had improving finances and was serious about manag-ing its external debt. This then bolstered confidence, attracted higher foreign invest-ments that created multiplier effects of escalating economic growth and creating new jobs and business opportunities.  

 

Credit rating agencies also took serious note of the improvements in our macroeconom-ic management. In 2010, the Philippines received its first investment grade credit rating. Again, this may sound esoteric to the “man on the street”, but the investment grade credit rating helped lower the country’s external borrowing cost, giving the government more room in its budget for other critical spending that included infrastructure, educa-tion and social services. The lower borrowing rates also benefitted private companies seeking  funding overseas.

 

Indeed, the BSP has significantly helped establish sustained macroeconomic stability in the country, which has underpinned faster economic growth. The inflation rate has de-cisively gone down to low single digit levels, while economic growth has remained above trend. interest rates are now at historically low levels. ur foreign exchange re-serves are at a healthy level. Banks remain responsive and innovative in providing ser-vices to their customers while the banking system is sound and stable. Thus the gains we made have continued.

 

The BSP declared micofinance as a flagship advocacy in the early 2000’s  to help the en-trepreneurial poor. This entailed encouraging banks to improve access to credit for small  businesses.In 2005, we expanded this to cover financial inclusion, eventually main-streaming this policy work beyond mere advocacy. Recognizing the multiple dimen-sions of financial inclusion, we established in 2012 the BSP Inclusive Finance Steering Committee, which became the springboard for the creation through an Executive Order in 2015 of the Steering Committee for the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, chaired by the BSP Governor. The NSFI is a collaboration of government agencies, the private sector and multilateral agencies to improve access to appropriate and fit-for-purpose financial services, deepen financial literacy, and strengthen financial consumer protection, in the process improve lives and promote  inclusive growth.Within the BSP we continued to craft regulations that leveraged on financial technology, fine-tuned our financial literacy programs, and formed a group to handle financial consumer com-plaints.

 

Today, there are safe non-traditional financial access points in areas of the archipelago that were previously unbanked. For instance, while 33 percent of cities and municipali-ties have no banks, really 94 percent of LGus are now served, with the presence of non-traditional providers like  microfinance institutions, cooperatives, pawnshops, money service businesses, and electronic money agents. Microfinance is now reaching 1.9 mil-lion entrepreneurs with Php22 billion in outstanding loans (Q1 2019). Formal account ownership has also improved from 26 percent of adults in 2011 to 34 percent in 2017 based on the World Bank Findex. The BSP believes that through technological solutions enabled by recent regulations, the inclusion figure can be doubled to 70 percent by 2023.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, in recognizing my work in the government as good public ser-vice, the Ateneo is also declaring that the BSP has done its job well -- that it has helped shine its light on others.  This humbles us… So, on behalf of the men and women of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas…  Maraming salamat sa Ateneo! 

 

Paying It Forward: The Best Form of Thanks

While I have been recognized here and abroad for my public service through the BSP, I have to admit that, other than the love of my family – who are here present -- no recog-nition is sweeter for me than this “Lux in Domino” award … It is a different feeling, a different sense of pride, when the award comes from the institution that mentored you…  Receiving this award is coming full circle!

 

That is why, as I accept this award, I ask myself, now that I have left public service in BSP, what are concrete things I can do to live the ideals that make “Lux in Domino”?

 

“Paying it forward” is a concept that comes to mind. Paying it forward is really not a new idea. Google says it may have been coined in 1916 by the author of the book In the Garden of Delight. Paying it forward is when you repay a benefactor by doing a good deed to another beneficiary, who may in turn be encouraged to repay you by doing a similar good deed to yet another beneficiary…. thereby creating ripples of good deeds. While paying it forward has been gaining popularity, the pace of its rise has to be im-proved. 

 

So, I asked myself, after this award, how can I pay forward?

 

One way is to help make an  Ateneo education available to more people... in a fast changing environment...while maintaining the cardinal values that our institution

is known for. I am hoping, for instance, that my granddaughter Zara will also  receive an Ateneo education – just like my wife and my three children did.  Zara is growing up in a world that is so different from the one I grew up in… She does not know what Betamax or cassette tapes are for…. Today, she streams movies online and gets her mu-sic from Spotify … She does not know what a card catalogue is. She only needs to swipe her finger and information is accessible on her phone… A few years from now, when she runs her own start up company, she will not need a checking account or credit card because she will be buying her e-books with stable coins.  When she comes to Ateneo in 2027, she will not experience Bellarmine or Berchman’s Hall as we all know them… be-cause she will, in most likelihood, be in an Innovation Hub… Actually, she may not even need to come to Katipunan at all because she will be in a virtual classroom listen-ing to a virtual teacher.

 

None of us can fully imagine how technology, innovation and the internet of things will shape the future. But, I would like Zara and others to receive an Ateneo education be-cause I am confident that the things that Ateneo stands for will remain -- Excellence in all endeavor, discipline in words and thought, commitment to purpose, service to others above self, dedication to God from whom all blessings flow…. These values are time invariant…

 

I am also thinking that to pay forward, I will go back to my time-honored formula of simply doing the next thing with excellence… and for others. I now sit on the board of some key corporations and a member of industry associations.  So, guided by that “north star” that is AMDG, I will endeavour to help steer our corporate actions con-sistent with good governance standards and the broader ESG framework, so that these will  improve, not just the welfare of the shareholders, but that of all stakeholders. I know there may be instances when these objectives could appear to be in conflict, par-ticularly in the short run. But the long term benefits to the individual companies, the environment and society as a whole are significant.  Along this line, I fervently trust that this award will help remind me of my higher purpose. 

 

Ateneo has raised so many who are now in public service, and in private practice. I have worked with a number of them in the course of my professional life. I have made deep friendships while here,  that I have kept up to today, especially with our batch, College ‘73 and ME ‘74. So I encourage that we keep this network alive… a network that lives the ideals of the teachings of this school that we love dearly… Let us pay forward, in big, as well as in small ways… To the best of our God-given abilities… living as men for others.

 

Before I end, allow me to warmly congratulate my fellow awardees for the distinction you are being rightly and highly recognized tonight.

 

Muli, kasama ang aking maybahay na si Elma, ang aming mga anak na si Patrick (at kanyang asawang si Miko), si Eula (at kanyang asawang si Ikey), bunsong anak na si Mia, at ang aming apong si Zara, maraming salamat sa pamunuan ng Ateneo, sa hindi masukat na karangalang ito.  Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!