can plough our own furrow and seek salvation in our own different ways. regardless of one ’ s size or location, we can all aspire to the premier league. we have in our midst this evening my venerated tutors and mentors from my undergraduate days at oxford and a bevy of dignitaries – indeed this is the kind of moment that you absolutely must share with family, friends, partners, colleagues from international institutions, and all those who walked part of the way with you in your life, personal, social, professional, or a mixture of all of them. i thank you all for your presence here to - night. as i landed at heathrow the other day, my mind drifted off to my first days in england when i was a carefree student, from a remote island colony, a rural country boy from a village with no electricity, no telephone, and little running water, who had never spent more than a couple of nights away from home, and who could read and write latin and greek better than his peers. i was more interested in satisfying my deep curiosity for all the novelties that i was discovering. i wasn ’ t really thinking of my future. in fact, i was wondering what to do with my life. i was barely out of my teens, not yet twenty. i had a prized seat at merton college, one of the oldest – if not the oldest – at oxford university. i was going to read greats … but i was going through an existential crisis. i had successfully resisted my parents ’ calls to pressure me to become a lawyer or a medical doctor, the prestigious occupations that attracted the six “ laureates ” of which i was one. i was quite aware that a university education was not vocational or professional training. but i could not help asking myself, was there much mileage left in the classics? i had just been reading some maupassant short stories. the punch line of one of them was fresh on my mind : le latin ne nourrit pas son homme! there used to be an outfit called mauritius students unit, operating from a small office in upper montagu street, off baker street, run by an energetic lady called miss rittner. she set up an interview for me at merton. peter chellen, also with us tonight, used to work at the unit. i found myself on the short train journey to oxford – and soon wondering whether i had alighted at the wrong destination when the first

amando m tetangco jr : transparency and communication in central banking speech by mr amando m tetangco jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines, at the oath - taking of the officers and directors of the economic journalists association of the philippines, makati city, 17 march 2006. * * * president vicente lopez of the economic journalists association of the philippines, distinguished officers and members of ejap board, special guests, friends, good evening. it is always a pleasure to attend gatherings of the media. it is where you hear the stories behind the stories that finally make it to the newspapers and broadcast stations. it is where you gain clarity as to why certain stories are angled in a particular manner. at the same time, attending media gatherings is also quite challenging. as they say, communications is a two - way street. thus, if you receive, thou shalt also give. personally, i have also provided insights behind certain news reports … in some cases, off the record or simply not for attribution. the objective is to ensure that a story is placed in the proper context or perspective so as not to mislead … or misinform. mutual respect is essential to maintain a professional relationship. we at the bangko sentral ng pilipinas are fortunate that our relationship with the media in general and … in particular, with the members of the bsp press corps, past and present, have been cordial and professional. i believe the professional manner by which journalists have been covering and reporting on the bangko sentral is partly responsible for the consistent positive ratings we get in surveys of government agencies. we thank you for this. i have been told … several times …. that it is not easy to report on the bangko sentral because the language or the jargon we normally use have to be interpreted and laymanized, so to speak, to be understood by the general public. a journalist who was not a business writer, but ended up covering bsp for a day, described the press statement he got … that it might as well have been in german or greek! he couldn ’ t make heads or tails of it …. and therefore could not appreciate the significance of the announcement. fortunately, for both of us, he was humble enough to admit he could not understand it … and therefore received an explanation. as a result, he came up with a story that was accurate and easy to understand. at this point, i want