Newly-installed Finance Secretary Ralph Recto on Friday vowed to do his best to hit the government’s target to collect around PHP4.235 trillion in revenues this year.

Recto made the commitment after taking oath before President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. as secretary of the Department of Finance (DOF) in a ceremony at Malacañan Palace in Manila.

“[I would] make sure that money is spent wisely, the idea is to stretch every peso, including acting faster on investment,” he said in a media interview after his oathtaking.

The revenue target for 2024 was earlier projected by the Development Budget Coordination Committee.

As the new finance chief, Recto said he would follow the National Development Plan crafted by the Marcos administration and ensure the continued implementation of the macrofiscal framework.

‘True understanding’

Marcos vouched for Recto’s competence, saying the latter has a “true understanding of how the Philippine economy works.”

“In terms of what Secretary Ralph has to offer, I think there is no need to enumerate that,” he told the Palace reporters when asked why he picked Recto as the new head of the DOF.

“He has a true understanding of our economy. He has a true understanding of how our Philippine economy works. And I think that is the quality that he will bring to this,” Marcos added.

Marcos also touted Recto’s experience as a former director general of the National Economic and Development Authority and as a legislator, stressing that there are “so many new ideas and new commitments” the new finance chief has made to transform the Philippine economy.

He said Recto, who has had a “remarkable” career in public service and excelled in various roles within the government, would be a “major player” in sustaining the country’s economic growth, reaching the medium-term fiscal target, and achieving developmental goals.

‘Long’ list of priorities

Marcos said he would meet with the economic team after the media interview to discuss the “long” list of priority projects aimed at improving the Philippine economy.

“The policies remain the same. The fiscal discipline will remain the same. However, we are again, as I said, looking to see if there are any new ways to handle that,” Marcos said.

“We actually sat down a few days ago and made a list of priorities, in terms of specific projects, in terms of the development of the proposals that were made during the trips that we made abroad. There is not just one. There are several,” he added.

Marcos expressed confidence that Recto would continue to help “devise strategies that will tame inflation through a bastion of responses ranging from plugging supply gaps to injecting nonmonetary measures so that prices will be stable.”

He added that Recto, as a former lawmaker, would leverage his influence in Congress to ensure the passage of bills that “accelerate growth, draw in investments, and create better jobs while raising funds that will be invested back for human and physical capital formation.”

“Many of the measures that make tax regimes more efficient, easy to administer and to comply with, and equitable are in the advance stages in both Houses of Congress,” Marcos said.

Recto pledged to make sure that the existing revenue measures certified by Marcos as urgent will be passed by Congress.

Recto replaced former Finance secretary Benjamin Diokno who returns to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as Monetary Board member.

Original plan

Marcos expressed gratitude to Diokno for his “splendid job” during his stint at the DOF.

He said Diokno was “due to retire” in mid-2023, but was “ganged up” to continue serving the government as the DOF secretary.

“Once again, I cannot thank Secretary Ben Diokno enough for setting the economy onto the right path. He has guided us, he has put the essentials into place, he has made the structural changes that we need, and therefore, these economic figures, the results that we are getting, a lot of that can certainly be attributable to the work that he did as Department of Finance secretary,” Marcos said.

“Being one of our country’s pillars of economic management, we shall continue to rely on your expertise and exuberance as a member now of the Monetary Board,” he added.

Marcos said the “original plan” was to give the vacant Maharlika Investment Corpz (MIC) post to Diokno and serve as a “liaison” between the government and the private sector in the Maharika Investment Fund (MIF).

Diokno, however, “begged off,” as he believed that the management of the MIF “is not what he feels [a] specialty of his,” Marcos said.

In a separate statement, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman also thanked Diokno who “has always been the guiding light of the Philippine Economic Team.”

“Sec. Diokno established a very good foundation for our economic transformation so I am confident we can continue this under Sec. Recto, who is a legislator with Executive branch experience and can merge these experiences to pursue our desired reforms,” she said.

Investments, economic policies

Meantime, Marcos also led the oathtaking of Frederick Go as Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs.

Marcos expressed confidence that Go would help create an environment to usher in an “era of unprecedented growth across industries.”

“He will ensure the effective integration and implementation of various investments and economic policies of the government,” he said. “I trust that his fruitful years across many ventures have sharpened his acumen for the next big opportunity. He will be at the forefront when we take that leap towards economic growth. He has a vision of innovation.” (PNA)