Ralph G. Recto
Secretary of Finance
April 30, 2024
My illustrious predecessors; past and former DOF officials; fellow workers in government; guests: Magandang gabi sa inyong lahat!
Seeing all the talent assembled here tonight, I cannot help but be reminded of what John Kennedy said when he hosted a dinner for Nobel Prize winners.
He called it “the most extraordinary collection of human knowledge that has ever been gathered at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”
So tonight, what we have in this room are the best minds in public finance ever to congregate in one room – with the possible exception of when the great Miguel Cuaderno – who for 14 years was our Finance chief and Central Bank governor – worked in his office by his lonesome.
In celebrating the 127th year of DOF’s founding, I think that there’s no better place to hold it than in a building steeped in history, and, as urban legend goes, teeming with ghosts.
Completed in 1607, the Ayuntamiento was nearly 300 years old when Aguinaldo named Baldomero Aguinaldo as the Republic’s first Finance Secretary.
Although he was his first cousin, his choice was not an act of nepotism, but based on merit, as the UST-schooled Baldomero came well-prepared for the job.
Some 70 years later, Baldomero’s grandson by the name of Cesar Virata was named Secretary of Finance – which puts to rest any doubt that no brilliance ran in Baldomero’s genes.
Since the time of Baldomero Aguinaldo, the core function of a finance secretary has remained unchanged: collect taxes, and if what was raised is not enough, borrow the deficit.
For example, total projected expenditures from May to September 1898 was P6.3 million – not billion, not trillion, but P6.3 million – but enough at that time to finance an army at war.
But in a story as old as time, revenues came up short, as only P2.5 million was raised, prompting President Aguinaldo to issue a decree approving a national loan of P20 million.
But this was opposed by, of all people, a comrade closest to him, Mabini – which means that hiring Batanguenos, then and now, comes with a hazard, for they do speak their mind.
And if you examine our tax collection spreadsheet through the years, there is one entry common in all eras, and that is the heavy reliance on sin taxes.
So much so that in 1912, when we were already under American rule, alcohol and tobacco combined for almost P9 million of total revenue take of P31 million.
In short, vices financed the virtues of democracy the Americans were preaching.
There was even a time we were taxing opium dens. And cockfights and card games were marshalled to contribute to the national coffers, antedating PAGCOR and e-sabong by more than a century.
Today’s gathering can also be rightly called as a reunion of survivors of economic crises, of veterans of wars against deficits, because of the 43 finance secretaries the country had, none had the luxury of being spared of confronting one.
And it is the labors of the DOF crew in one challenging era that makes the agency strong today.
Their actions have accumulated into the fortitude, tenacity, and professionalism that define DOF today. These can be words in the coat-of-arms of this fighting unit, if ever there was one.
Like generals who seek lessons from the battles of the past, DOF officials of the realm also seek guidance from what their predecessors had done.
When Sonny Dominguez was thinking of how he can resurrect an economy flatlined by Covid, nearly 80 years earlier, Jaime Hernandez was planning how to rebuild a Manila flattened by war.
If Cesar Purisima had his Yolanda, Cesar Virata had his Yoling, and The Great Central Luzon Flood of 1970.
Bobby de Ocampo had to man the fort to fend off the contagion of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and a decade later, Gary Teves masterfully shielded us from the fallout of the Great Recession of 2008.
And despite the political turbulence raging during his time, Jose Pardo managed to keep the economic ship afloat.
Indeed, we stand on the shoulders of these giants.
So tonight, as we mark the 127th anniversary of the DOF, please allow us to pay tribute to your hard work that has allowed this crucial institution to thrive through tests and time.
On my part, I assure you of my commitment to uphold the tradition of sound fiscal policy making and to build on the heritage of excellence that you all have left behind.
I am also very fortunate to inherit not only a robust institution but a team of highly talented DOF employees, whom you have inspired to embrace the nobility of civil service.
They are so good that I am planning to slap a very hefty tax on those who plan to pirate them, beginning with our neighbor which has become a big talent suctioning machine.
So at this juncture, allow me to share a toast in honor of my illustrious predecessors and former officials who brought the Department of Finance visionary foresight, policy acumen, and excellent public service.
Mabuhay po tayong lahat. Mabuhay ang Bagong Pilipinas. Cheers!
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