amando m tetangco, jr : layon – money as vision of a nation speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ), at the opening of the layon exhibit at the bsp money museum, manila, 3 july 2007. * * * monetary board members, officers and directors of the philippine numismatic and antiquarian society, mr. and mrs. angel cacnio, mrs. fely asuncion and other members of the asuncion family, fellow central bankers, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. the 14th anniversary of bsp finds us celebrating on several fronts – we have new facilities, an exciting exhibit at our main building lobby, and the grant of support for various social projects. another cause for celebration is the “ coming home, ” so to speak, of the designs for philippine currency that were proposed in the 1940s to the 1950s. these never reached philippine shores, had never been in private hands, and were seen by the public only for the first time when these were included in the catalogue of the american auction house h. r. harmer. interestingly enough, it was dr. benito legarda, the central bank official who started the money museum, who called our attention to the auction. i therefore ask all of you to join me in acknowledging dr. legarda by giving him a round of applause. while dr. legarda cannot join us today, we are assured he is celebrating this moment with us as well. dr. legarda retired from the central bank more than two decades ago, but the central bank remains close to his heart. as they say, once a central banker, always a central banker. the monetary board was quick to realize the significance of these pieces in the history of the bsp and indeed, of our country, and readily approved our participation in the auction. i therefore ask all of you to join me in thanking the members of the monetary board here with us today by giving them a round of applause. canadian numismatist douglas andrews describes the pieces as “ stunning in their use of proposed color schemes, vignettes, and different designs, many of which look contemporary even by present standards. ” he considers the bound volume containing an assortment of 3, 500 different trial and proof notes from the late nineteen - forties and early fifties as the largest single offering of color proof notes

amando m tetangco, jr : macroeconomic prudence – a review of the philippine economy in 2009 statement by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ), at the tuesday club breakfast meeting, manila, 6 january 2009. * * * let me begin by wishing everyone a “ calmer ”, hopefully “ not too ” challenging 2009 ahead of us. last year, i was also your guest around this time. then, i greeted you a “ happy, though perhaps more challenging year! ” if you recall, we were then coming out of 2007, which saw the country experience the “ ideal convergence of high growth and low inflation ”. but on the heels of 2007, we began to feel some of the impact of the us subprime mortgage problem. subsequent market events have certainly proven me correct, haven ’ t they? in fact, the country faced two major challenges. first, volatile international prices of oil and non - oil commodities which caused inflation to accelerate globally, particularly in the first half of the year. second, the broadening of the reach of the impact of the us subprime mortgage problem – from the us subprime market alone to the us financial market, to the global financial markets and then to the us and major real economies, and now the global real economy. these challenges translated to lower - than - first - forecasted real gdp growth and higher - thantargeted inflation. nevertheless, the country still ended 2008 on much better footing than most of our asian counterparts. specifically, philippine growth for the first 3 quarters of 2008 stood at 4. 6 percent, significantly lower than the ng ’ s initial target but still within the country ’ s long - term growth trend and quite respectable compared to our asean neighbors. inflation, on the other hand, peaked at 12. 4 pct in august from a level of 4. 9 pct at the start of the year. the average inflation for the first 11 months of 9. 4 was significantly higher than the target range of 4 pct + / - 1 percentage point. this upswing in inflation was, however, not unique to the philippines in 2008, given that this trend was largely due to elevated and highly volatile international oil and food prices. on the exchange rate, the peso lost much of the gains it tucked in 2007, due principally to heightened risk aversion towards emerging markets including the philippines