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Gary Teves appointed new Finance Secretary |
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By GENALYN D. KABILING
The Manila Bulletin 07/13/2005 Embarking on the reorganization of her official family after a shock mass resignation, President Gloria Maca-pagal Arroyo yesterday appointed Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) president Margarito Teves as the new secretary of the Department of Finance. Teves, a former member of the House of Representatives, takes the place of Cesar Purisima who was among the group of Cabinet members to resign last Friday over the election scandal plaguing the President. The President reiterated that she would give her new Cabinet a free hand in government management while she focuses on fundamental changes in the political system and the Constitution. Mrs. Arroyo also appealed anew to various sectors to nominate prospective replacements in the official family. "I ask our sectors to give me names of candidates that we can invite to replace those who will not return to the Cabinet, or even to help out at other levels of the executive," she said. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita broke the news about the appointment of Teves to the key finance post early yesterday morning, citing the track record of Teves as a former banker and a congressman. "He is reliable, intelligent, and competent to handle the job," Ermita said in an interview over the state-owned NBN Channel 4. At a press conference last night, Teves said he will try to plug tax leakages and improve tax collection efficiency during his term to offset the expected impact of a Supreme Court order suspending implementation of the new value-added tax (VAT) law. He said the finance agency under his leadership will work to convince international ratings agencies to reverse their negative outlook on the country’s credit rating within six months. "My immediate goal is to improve tax administration and collection efficiency," Teves said at a press conference. "This is crucial in countering the potential loss in revenues with the suspension of the implementation of the expanded VAT law that largely contributed to the recent downgrade in the country’s credit rating outlook." Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Fitch Ratings have revised their outlook on the Philippine government’s credit ratings to negative from stable, citing political uncertainty in the country, as well as the Supreme Court’s recent decision to stop the new revenue-raising measure. "Our long-term goal is to achieve a zero deficit by 2008 or earlier. Doing so will result in generating sufficient revenues for infrastructure, education, health, anti-poverty and job generation activities," Teves said. Teves, 61, is a master’s degree holder in Development Economics in Williams College, Massachusetts USA. He served as president and chief executive officer of the Land Bank since Sept. 1, 2000. Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri yesterday lauded the appointment of Teves to the finance portfolio, saying he is "very capable" and "well-regarded" by the business sector and the civil society. In a news briefing in Malacañang, Neri said he is looking forward to working with the new set of economic managers and expressed hope they would "stay longer" than their predecessors. |
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