Working in government is not a walk in the park nor a trip to Jerusalem, but one aspect which makes the journey worthwhile, fulfilling and memorable is serving our people together with a true and dedicated public servant like Governor Amando Tetangco.
I am proud that I walked part of that journey with Governor Tetangco and even tried my best to catch up with his steps.
I am profoundly honored to be his fellow regulator during his dynamic watch of the banking industry and as co-convenor of the Financial Sector Forum.
For six years, we were a triumvirate with SEC Chairperson Teresita Herbosa at the Anti-Money Laundering Council where, as Chair, he showed his steady hand, insightful mind, watchful eyes and indomitable courage to secure our financial system against the evils of money laundering and terrorist financing.
I will only bore you to kingdom come if I continue to recite his litany of accomplishments since it is a matter of public record.
You will never miss the BSP Complex every time you pass by Roxas Boulevard, but after giving up my ex-officio seat in the AMLC, what I miss is not its imposing and massive structure but its most important tenant—a medium-built man who commanded the imposing place for a decade.
Gov. Tetangco was awarded so many accolades and plaques of distinction by prestigious local and international organizations that if you hang them all on the wall, they would eclipse the famous art collections of the BSP.
The highest honors annually bestowed by prestigious awarding bodies were created and reserved for him.
His virtues are many and his only vice is winning the Best Central Banker year after year after year.
Now he belongs to the Hall of Fame.
Governor, you have many honors but what matters most is you have captured the hearts and minds of our people because of your long years of distinguished service to them. Now I understand why we constructed a huge and massive BSP Complex—to accommodate and fit the giant of a man with gifted and complex qualities who occupies the office.
Gov. Tetangco, your term will end next week. Giving you a fixed term of office is the greatest crime committed by Congress against our people. Many years from now, the peso bills which you issued will get old, tattered and worn and removed from our wallet, but you will remain current forever and will never be demonetized in the hearts of the people you have loved and served so well.
Our country owes its gratitude to his beauteous wife and wonderful children for unselfishly sharing him with us. In Elma, Governor Tetangco found his muse to build his family; in every poor Filipino, he found the inspiration to promote financial inclusion and help strengthen our economy.
Let me conclude this tribute by quoting Alexander Hamilton, one of US founding fathers and its first Secretary of Treasury, who said: “A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.”
In deftly managing our fiscal and monetary policies, Governor Tetangco is to the Filipino people our national blessing.
Thank you for the privilege of working with you which I shall treasure like the gold
bullions stashed in your vaults and the special friendship which I shall save and grow through the years with compound interest.
God bless, Governor Say. —CONTRIBUTED