Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 11) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed former senator and now House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto as the new finance chief, the palace confirmed late Thursday.
Recto will take his oath on Friday, Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cheloy Garafil said.Rep. Recto is the 33rd secretary of the Department of Finance (DOF), replacing Benjamin Diokno.
Speculations about Recto’s appointment first surfaced when he accompanied the president to the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in the United States in November.
Recto denied the rumors then, saying he was there “representing the House.”
Earlier on Thursday, even before the palace confirmation, several groups and officials already announced their support with congratulatory messages to Recto.This was after Recto’s wife, actress and former Batangas governor Vilma Santos, revealed that her husband has been appointed to head the DOF.Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri lauded Recto’s appointment, calling him a “numbers genius” and praised his “ability to immediately see the big picture implications of numbers.”Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Sonny Angara, and Albay Representative Joey Salceda also welcomed Recto’s appointment.
However, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno has kept silent amid earlier reports of Recto’s appointment as his successor.
Recto has served as representative of the 6th District of Batangas since 2022.The Batangueño lawmaker began his political career in 1992 in the House of Representatives.His three terms in the House focused on economic reforms and poverty alleviation, and had enacted several laws, including the Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act, the Philippine Economic Zone Law, and the Comprehensive Tax Reform Law.Recto also authored the unpopular Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT) law, which authorized the government to increase VAT from 10% to 12% and the corporate tax from 32% to 35%. EVAT, enacted in 2005, also taxed previously exempted commodities and hiked taxes for alcoholic beverages and cigarettes.In the 19th Congress, Recto principally authored 201 bills and co-authored 78 more.In the Senate, he held the positions of Senate Minority Leader and President pro tempore during his three terms, from 2001 to 2007 and 2010 to 2022.In previous congresses, Recto served as chairperson of the committees on science and technology, ways and means, and government corporations and public enterprises.He was also a member of the Commission on Appointments and co-chaired the Joint Oversight Committee on the Proper Implementation of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) and the Joint Oversight Committee on the Official Development Assistance (ODA).In 2008, Recto briefly served as the Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority.
During his tenure, he played a key role in designing and overseeing the government’s Economic Resiliency Plan (ERP), also known as the Philippines’ stimulus program. Additionally, he proposed a new economic plan called REAP (Reloading Economic Acceleration Plan) to safeguard the gains achieved through the ERP.
