TRUE OR FALSE Claire Morales True: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Remolona a US citizen for many years

SAN FRANCISCO – Do you know that newly appointed Bangko Sentral ng PIlipinas (BSP) Governor Eli M. Remolona was based for a long time in the United States and acquired US citizenship in the process and as such was a naturalized American for many years?

According to his profile posted on the Central Bank’s website, Remolona, who is now 71 years old, worked for 14 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and 19 years at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), described as “the bank for central banks.”

The appointment of Remolona by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as BSP Governor was welcomed by the business sector, saying it ensures continuity and enhances institutional stability. He succeeded Felipe M. Medalla, who had served as Monetary Board member since 2012. As BSP Governor, Remolona will also serve as chairman of the country’s Monetary Board which he first served as a member in August 202

Jose Teodoro K. Limacaoco, president of the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), expressed the banking sectors support to Remolona. “With his extensive global experience and expertise in financial markets and regulations, we are confident that Dr. Remolona will anchor the Philippine banking industry not only towards continuous stability of the financial system but to growth and competitiveness in the regional stage,” he said.

“The BAP looks forward to working with Governor Remolona on various initiatives impacting the banking industry and its stakeholders, whether in the areas of financial market development, cybersecurity or sustainability,” Limcaoco added.

According to reports, Remolona’s journey in finance and economics began in 1972 when, upon graduation with AB Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University, he served as an economist at the Presidential Economic Staff and Development Management Staff of then Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor under the leadership of the President’s father and namesake, President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr

Remolona was also a Professor of Finance and the Director of Central Banking at the Asia School of Business in Kuala Lumpur, a collaboration with the MIT Sloan School of Management.

From 2008 to 2018, as the BIS regional head for Asia and the Pacific, he worked closely with Governors of the 12 leading central banks in the region to formulate policy on such issues as financial regulatory reform, capital market development, and financial stability, while also overseeing BIS reserve management for Asia-Pacific central banks.

In 2000, as the newly appointed editor of the BIS Quarterly Review, he overhauled the journal and turned it into a highly ranked scholarly flagship publication of the BIS. He has also published widely in leading journals in economics and finance, with papers that have attracted over 5,450 citations. Since 2005, he has been an Associate Editor for Finance of the International Journal of Central Banking.

In 1991, he joined Paul Krugman (awarded the Nobel Prize in 2013) and Susan Collins (now President of the Boston Fed) in a high-level economic mission to the Philippines to advise the Philippine government on structural reforms.

Remolona also taught at Williams College, Columbia University, New York University and the School of Economics of the University of the Philippines. He has given seminars at the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, World Bank and many other central banks, and academic institutions.

He taught courses on monetary policy, money and capital markets, and digital transformation, contributing to the education and development of future finance professionals.

In 1982, he received a Ph.D. in Economics “with Distinction” from Stanford University and in 1972, a bachelor’s degree in Economics Honors from the Ateneo de Manila University. Also a product of public schools, he graduated valedictorian from V. Mapa High School in Manil

Before joining the Bangko Sentral, Remolona served as Independent Director of the Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) and the Chair of the Risk Management Committee.

It was reported that Remolona was serious about his intent to give back to the country that he gave up his American citizenship with the help of Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, said to be a colleague from their early days at the School of Economics of the University of the Philippines.

Remolona thus is now solely a Filipino citizen. Some jokingly say, he remains with dual citizenship as he, at 71, is also a senior citizen.

Diokno said Remolona believed that it was just right to give up his US citizenship before he took up the post as a member of the Monetary Board in 2022, on his way to eventually being appointed the governor of the BSP for the next six years.

(Editor’s Note: Claire Rivera Morales True is managing editor of Philippine News Today. She was formerly assistant managing director of Health Frontiers, a public relations firm serving multinational pharmaceutical companies. She also served as PR officer of then Pampanga Vice Governor Juan Miguel Arroyo, eldest son of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Chief of Staff of the Chairman of the Philippine Postal Corporation and legislative assistant at the House of Representatives. She can be reached at cmtpr1962@yahoo.com.ph)