Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri; Vice Chairman Ramon Guico, Jr., Honorable Members of the Commission from the bigger and brighter House, and from the smaller and smarter House: Magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat.

In taking this hot seat, I am now admiring the view from the opposite end – of the firing squad.

Although I had served in this bicameral body for 15 years, I think I spent the minutes allotted to me more in toasting than in roasting the nominees who had come before us.

I mentioned my CA alumni credentials not to hint that you extend to me the same privilege.

Because I believe, then and now, that this constitutionally created body can only perform its mandate if it will be able to vet officials in a free, fair, and fearless manner.

In appearing before the CA – which has been called the “nation’s most important HR panel” – for a job interview, a nominee is expected to lay out the case on why he should be hired.

Mr. Chairman, honorable members:

My job description is not just written in law, but dictated by economic conditions, shaped by what the people want, and directed by the nation’s development plan.

All of these are distilled into this objective: To promote growth that all of our people can benefit from, that results in the improvement of their lives, and secures the future of generations to come.

In doing these, I am also guided by the laws passed by Congress.

The same Congress where in whose halls I spent 29 years in forging fiscal and economic reforms we were in dire need of as a nation.

One such measure, as many of you are well aware of, may have saved the economy from collapse but did hurt me politically, in the elections of 2007.

It is a price I paid for doing what was right but not popular — with neither rancor, nor regret.

Speaking of laws, the last one that I cast my vote on as member of the House of Representatives in December last year was the national budget for this year.

I earlier explained that the proposed 2024 national budget of P5.767 trillion translates to an average daily spending of P15.8 billion, but only P11.7 billion of which is supportable by revenues, leaving a P4 billion hole which must be plugged by debt.

“Gagasta ng P15.8 billion bawat araw. Ngunit P11.7 billion lang ang kayang pondohan ng buwis. Kaya may P4 bilyon na dapat utangin. Kada 24 na oras,” was how I framed our daily fiscal conundrum.

But it never crossed my mind at that time that one month later, I will be heading the department that must raise the P15.8 billion daily, from tax collected and money borrowed.

Never did it occur to me then that I will soon be conscripted to stand watch over the nation’s revenues counter and debt meter.

So at dusk, when the sun sets over Manila Bay – a spectacle we see from our offices – I often ask myself: “Nakakolekta ba tayo ngayon ng P11.7 billion sa araw na ito?”

As the needs of our growing population outpace revenues, the temptation to inflict taxes is there.

But such must take a backseat to growing the economy, plugging tax leaks, improving tax administration, and, yes, preventing wasteful expenditures, through carefully curated projects that only yield economic gains.

Although many of you have taunted me for defecting to the other side, I still believe in the adage that I have often said in this building — that “the art in collecting taxes is to pluck the largest amount of feathers from a goose with the smallest possible amount of hissing.”

The revenue measures we have sent to Congress comply with that maxim. They maximize the gains, minimize the pain, institute fairness and fiscal consolidation.

I know that for every tax proposal, your immediate reaction is not of ratification, but of restraint.

But I also know that together we can develop strategies to efficiently mobilize fiscal resources and prevent leakages so we can finance growth, manage debt, and protect our people in these challenging times.

All these, while sustaining investments in infrastructure and human capital development.

As to the pressing issue of inflation, we will continue to employ measures that will shield consumers, especially the vulnerable, from the pain of elevated prices.

After all, inflation is an unlegislated tax the people should not bear.

But in my mind, the best way to inculcate tax obedience is still to promote ease of payment, and to show that taxes that are efficiently collected are effectively spent.

This covers ODA projects because the people must be told not only where their taxes go, but where the debts they are paying for also go to.

We also agree that the task of reclaiming lost momentum and staging a powerful comeback will be greatly propelled by investment-led growth that creates quality jobs.

We will boost investments by reducing the cost of doing business, easing the doing of business, improving the regulatory regime, and ending constraints.

In the words of the President, replacing red tape with a red carpet, but, if I may add, without sweeping the unsavory under the rug or trampling rights and rules.

Mr. Chairman, honorable members of the Commission:

While this job requires a Finance secretary to be a dealer of hope, he must also be a teller of truth.

While this may sound like a campaign sortie spiel, which I know I may never ever deliver in the future, let me assure you that I will perform my task with honesty and hard work.

Maraming salamat, Mr. Chairman.