for development and influencing the impact of borrowings on the profile and structure of total external debt. a continuing review of bangko sentral regulations governing external debt and other foreign exchange transactions is likewise undertaken to keep our rules attuned with current global and domestic conditions and to foster a regulatory environment that supports the objective to achieve inclusive growth for the country. in all these undertakings, a good monitoring system is indispensable. flares allows us to perform all these with relative ease and accuracy. conclusion i have, on a number of occasions in the past, said that the philippines managed to “ survive ” today ’ s crisis, because we purposed to invest in the reforms yesterday …. and today, ladies and gentlemen, we add flares to the list of governance reforms we have instituted. as we enlist public and private sector entities to enroll in flares and encourage more banks to participate, it is my hope that flares would indeed help us better manage our external debt. in turn, i hope this will ensure and protect our desired trajectory of sustained higher economic growth. maraming salamat sa inyong pagdalo at pakikinig. bis central bankers ’ speeches

amando m tetangco, jr : managing external debt, a move to ensure economic growth speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( the central bank of the philippines ), at the launch of the foreign loan approval and registration system ( flares ), manila, 20 march 2012. * * * i wish to thank everyone for joining us today for the launch of flares or the foreign loan approval and registration system. this is the newest bsp electronic innovation and is part of our continuing efforts to enhance the delivery of services to our stakeholders. the vision through the years, the bsp has consciously and progressively adopted measures to move towards a paperless system. taking advantage of the prevalence of the internet and the robustness of the philpass, the flares project certainly takes us another step closer to this vision. as you saw from the presentation of the operational highlights, flares will facilitate the submission of applications for approval and registration of loans via the internet … payment of processing fees will likewise be more convenient, using the branch network of participating banks …. finally, participants will be able to monitor the status of applications online … it is our expectation therefore that flares … in addition to improving operational efficiency … will also move us towards greater transparency in our delivery of services to stakeholders. today, flares is realized because of the active partnership of a select group of banks – banco de oro, bank of the philippine islands, land bank of the philippines and the philippine national bank. …. i would also like to express our appreciation to the public and private sector borrowers who provided useful feedback and cooperated in the pilot testing of flares. …. of course, this project would not be possible without the creative ideas and critical support of the officers and staff of the bangko sentral ng pilipinas who collaborated to see the project to its completion, particularly the international operations department under the international sub - sector, the information technology sub - sector, the payments and settlements office, and the financial accounting department. the reason the launch of flares is indeed quite timely, in light of all the developments in external debt dynamics across the globe. while i don ’ t believe the philippines is about to enter any kind of external debt crisis … any time soon …. i believe now is a good time to take stock … and be reminded ( through the experiences in other jurisdictions ) of the possible consequences – both intended and otherwise – of