Biz buzz: TOP musical chairs

The position of head of the Bureau of the Treasury is an important job. The country’s treasurer works directly under the Secretary of Finance, who is the head of any presidential administration’s economic team.

More importantly, the Treasurer of the Philippines (known in the financial markets by the ‘TOP’ acronym of the job title), plays a key role in the government’s revenue-raising efforts. Whatever shortfall is between the funds generated by the bureaus of internal revenue and of customs, and the national government’s actual needs, the TOP has to borrow from the market by issuing treasury bills and bonds to fund the administration’s fiscal spending program.

So, the question is, if this position is so important, how come there seems to be a dearth of candidates who are interested in the post? (And the ones who are interested in it never seem to get it?).

Biz Buzz learned that former Treasurer Rosalia de Leon will make a comeback as TOP starting February 2017. That will be an interesting homecoming at the Treasury for the former treasurer, who was first appointed during the Aquino administration, and then went on to serve a stint at the World Bank.

What will happen to the current TOP, Roberto Tan? Word is that he will soon be heading to Philippine Deposit and Insurance Corp.

The Treasury’s financial market stakeholders seem indifferent to the move since the same “brain trust” running the agency (“three ‘bright boys’ and a ‘princess,’” as one banker described them) will still be around. “And speaking of the ‘princess,’ she can’t sign any documents pending her reappointment by the Palace,” another banker said.

In any case, it remains unclear to the Treasury people if De Leon will officially retain the rank of undersecretary (which is what being named TOP implies) or her old rank of assistant secretary.
Being the government’s treasurer makes one coterminus with the appointing President.
After this stint, will she return to her former post at the Department of Finance as an assistant secretary?

Meanwhile, this upcoming Tan-De Leon “rigodon” has some Treasury employees asking: “Is there no one else they can appoint to be TOP?” —DAXIM L. LUCAS

Hearty applause, please

President Duterte likes being unpredictable—a trait apparent during the numerous times he veered off message during speeches and media conferences, usually to disparage some global leader, an international organization or a collection of countries.

But those well-versed with Mr. Duterte’s mannerisms have learned a key lesson in recent months: Sometimes, the best way for the Philippines to avoid undue attention on the global stage is to simply give the President more attention.

This was best illustrated in some of the more recent trips the President had taken overseas. We heard some of those closely advising the President have resorted to telling audience members to applaud as enthusiastically as possible while Mr. Duterte makes his various points while speaking.

Apparently, this was not only for mere optics for those watching far away on a television screen. It seems that poor audience reception was one sure way to get the President to liven things up, so to speak, and recent history tells us that’s not always a good outcome. It’s also unfortunate since the broader message—sometimes a meaningful one—truly gets lost in the controversy.

Biz Buzz sources said they were skeptical at first, but perhaps they thought: There can’t be any harm in showing extra support, right?

During one such speech in Japan, audience members did just as they were told, and we can only imagine the rousing sound of applause that greeted the Philippines’s commander in chief. More importantly, the President stayed on message.

No one is promising this will work 100 percent of the time and we’re not shifting any of the responsibility or blame to the audience members. But it’s clear that in certain instances, it’s truly beneficial to “show” you are paying attention, instead of just simply paying attention. —MIGUEL R. CAMUS

‘Junket Queen’ cancels trip

Whoa! On the week Biz Buzz published an item about the “traveling-est” department secretary of the Duterte Cabinet, the secretary alluded to hastily cancelled a trip to an Asian country.

An Inquirer mole in the department said “Junket Queen” was bothered by the blind item. “Feeling the heat is more like it,” said the source.

There’s more reason to be bothered. In the heels of the blind item, the Inquirer received photos of the footloose secretary’s jaunts since July. The photos were supposedly uploaded on Facebook but must have been taken down by this time.

One photo showed Junket Queen with a big Bangkok shopping bag, posing with friends in what looked like a market frequented by Pinay “viajeras.” When posted on FB, Junket Queen was supposed to have written this comment: “Shop, shop, shop.” —FE ZAMORA