Rafael Buenaventura facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rafael B. Buenaventura
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Rafael Buenaventura, ca. 2004
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| 2nd Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas | |
| In office July 4, 1999 – July 3, 2005 |
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| President | Joseph Ejercito Estrada Gloria Macapagal Arroyo |
| Deputy | Amando Tetangco, Jr. Armando Suratos |
| Preceded by | Gabriel C. Singson |
| Succeeded by | Amando Tetangco, Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 August 1938 San Fernando, La Union, Philippines |
| Died | 30 November 2006 (aged 68) Manila, Philippines |
| Cause of death | Cancer |
| Alma mater | De La Salle University New York University |
| Profession | Banker |
| Signature |  |
Rafael Carlos Baltazar Buenaventura (born August 5, 1938 – died November 30, 2006) was a very important banker in the Philippines. He served as the second Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which is the country's central bank. He held this job from 1999 to 2005. During his time, he worked under two Philippine presidents. This was a period of big political changes in the country.
Buenaventura was known for being very independent. People often tried to remove him from his job during his six-year term. But he was smart in how he handled both his critics and supporters. This allowed him to make important changes to rules and policies. These changes helped the country's economy, even when political problems could have stopped progress. By the end of his term, he had helped the financial system become more like global standards.
He passed away on November 30, 2006, at 68 years old. He had been battling cancer for a long time.
Early Life and Education
Family Background
Rafael Carlos "Paeng" Baltazar Buenaventura was born into a regular family. His hometown was San Fernando City in La Union, Philippines. His father, Antonio, managed money for the northern provinces. His mother, Consuelo, took care of their home. She also helped start a small bank in Aringay.
Rafael was one of four children. His older brother, Cesar, used to be in charge of Pilipinas Shell. His other brother, Jose, is a lawyer. His only sister, Elisa, works for a group called the Asian Social Institute.
In 1965, Buenaventura married Fairley "Lee" Earl. She was an American writer he met while studying in New York City. They had three children: Paul, Deanna, and Melissa. When Buenaventura passed away, he also had two grandchildren.
Learning and Growing Up
Buenaventura grew up as a Roman Catholic. He went to high school at Ateneo de Manila. There, he met and went to school with Joseph Estrada, who later became president. After high school, Buenaventura studied at De La Salle College. He earned a degree in commerce there. Later, he got a master's degree in business from New York University in the United States.
His Banking Journey
Starting in Banking
Buenaventura often said his banking career happened by chance. He started as a credit investigator while still in college at Security Bank. After graduating, he got a training job at Citibank in Manila. He quickly moved up in the bank. In 1972, he became the Merchant Bank Head for Citibank in Singapore. This was just before Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in the Philippines.
Leading Banks Abroad
By 1974, Buenaventura was in charge of Citibank in Indonesia. Two years later, in 1976, he moved to lead the bank's work in Malaysia. He stayed there until 1979. Then, he became a Senior Vice President in Hong Kong. For three years, he managed Citibank's money activities in twelve countries.
Coming Home to Citibank
In 1982, Buenaventura returned to the Philippines. He became the first Filipino to be the Chief Executive Officer of Citibank Philippines. He held this important job until 1985.
As the head of Citibank Philippines, Buenaventura got involved in planning the country's economy. In the early 1980s, the Philippines faced a big debt problem. The country needed to reorganize its large debts. Buenaventura was part of a group of experts who helped negotiate how to fix this crisis.
After his time at Citibank Philippines, Buenaventura worked in Europe. He was in charge of Citibank's operations in countries like Italy, Spain, and Greece from 1985 to 1989.
Leading PCIB Bank
Later, John Gokongwei, a big business leader, asked Buenaventura to lead Philippine Commercial International Bank (PCIB). Buenaventura was the president and CEO of PCIB for ten years. During this time, he also led the Bankers Association of the Philippines (1994-1997). He also chaired the ASEAN Banking Council (1996-1997).
Leading the Philippines' Central Bank
How He Became Central Bank Governor
In 1998, Buenaventura's old schoolmate, Joseph Estrada, became president. Estrada asked Buenaventura to lead the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The current governor was about to leave. But the financial market was already in trouble because of the Asian financial crisis in 1997. Removing the current chief would have made things worse. So, Buenaventura said no to the offer.
President Estrada let the old governor finish his term. Buenaventura was offered other government jobs, but he politely turned them down. In 1999, Estrada offered him the BSP chief position again. Buenaventura had promised his father he would never work for the government. But President Estrada and his finance secretary convinced him to accept.
Buenaventura's appointment was announced two months before the old governor's term ended. He left his job at PCIB. On July 6, 1999, Rafael Buenaventura became the second governor of the BSP.
Guiding the Economy Through Tough Times
The banking industry was very happy about Buenaventura's appointment. He took over when banks were in big trouble. They had many "bad loans" (money that wasn't being paid back). This threatened to crash the whole financial system. Also, banking was becoming more global. New rules were needed to meet international standards.
When Buenaventura became governor, more than 15% of all bank loans were bad loans. This number even went up to 17% the next year. To fix this, the BSP pushed for a new law called the Special Purpose Vehicles Act. This law would let banks sell their bad loans to special companies. These companies would then try to fix the loans. Buenaventura worked hard to get this law passed in Congress. He told lawmakers that banks needed this help because the government didn't have enough money to save them.
Dealing with Political Changes
However, the process stopped when President Estrada was removed from office in January 2001. This happened during a big public event called EDSA II. Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo became the new president. Buenaventura had only been at the BSP for two years. People started pressuring him to resign so Arroyo could appoint her own governor.
Buenaventura didn't want to hold onto the job just for himself. But he believed it was important for the central bank governor to have a stable six-year term. He felt that changing leaders too often made the country look unstable to the world. So, he refused to resign, even as a courtesy. He even joked that he was counting down the days until his term ended.
Despite the political problems, Buenaventura kept working on the bad loan issue. Even though discussions in Congress stopped for a while, they eventually continued. Finally, in 2003, Congress passed the Special Purpose Vehicles Act. This law helped banks sell their bad loans and made it easier for them to deal with the losses.
Fighting Money Laundering
The BSP also faced another big problem during Buenaventura's term. In June 2000, a group called the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) put the Philippines on a "non-cooperative country" list. This meant the country was seen as a place where criminals might "launder" dirty money. Being on this list made it harder and more expensive for Philippine banks to do business internationally.
To get off this blacklist, the BSP led efforts to pass a law against money laundering. This law would also create a special body to fight it, as required by the FATF. But this was difficult. Some lawmakers criticized Buenaventura. They thought the BSP wanted too much power to look into people's private bank accounts. They worried this power could be used for political reasons.
The debates lasted almost a year. Buenaventura spent a lot of time explaining international anti-money laundering rules. He convinced lawmakers that the Philippines was just following global standards. Finally, in September 2001, Congress passed the Anti-Money Laundering Act. This law created the Anti-Money Laundering Council. The BSP and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lead this council. More laws were passed in 2002 and 2003 to make it stronger.
Because of these actions, the Philippines was removed from the FATF blacklist in early 2005.
Making Banking More Open
While these big changes were happening, the banking world itself was changing. People wanted more openness in financial dealings. Investors wanted their money to be safe and predictable. This led to a global push for transparency, good management, and accountability in business and banking.
Buenaventura used this chance to push for rules that would make banking very transparent. He made important policy changes. These changes slowly removed old ways of doing things that had been hidden from the BSP's oversight.
During his time as BSP governor, Buenaventura got rid of "common trust funds." These funds were often misused. He replaced them with "unit investment trust funds," which were more open and easier to understand.
With the help of his deputy, Alberto Reyes, Buenaventura quietly changed the banking system. He made it more transparent than ever before in Philippine banking history. He also removed artificial protections that had created unfair profits for some financial groups.
A Strong and Independent Leader
Buenaventura was also known for his smart way of managing money policies. He resisted pressure to protect the Philippine peso (the country's currency) by unfairly changing the currency market.
Traders saw Buenaventura as someone who represented the central bank's power to influence banks. He was known to call bank officials to his office when the peso was under attack by people trying to make quick money from its value.
Sometimes, there were rumors that Buenaventura would be removed from his job. This was because of disagreements within the Arroyo administration. He was very independent and refused to give in to political demands while pushing for reforms. But he was popular with local and international business and finance groups. This made him very important to the administration.
In 2003, a writer from Bloomberg said that Buenaventura was "what the Philippine economy needs most: an adult in the room." Another expert said, "He's the guy who has held it all together."
Despite his popularity and success, Buenaventura announced years in advance that he would not take any other government job after his term at the BSP ended. After six years, Buenaventura left his office on July 3, 2005. His deputy, Amando Tetangco, Jr., who helped create many of the reforms, took over.
Global Recognition
By the time his six-year term ended, Buenaventura had been named one of the world's top central bankers twice (in 2002 and 2003). This was by Global Finance magazine. They surveyed central bankers based on their performance and how well they managed their country's economy.
In 2001, The Banker magazine, a sister publication of the Financial Times, gave Buenaventura the award for "Central Bank Governor of the Year for the Asian Region." He was the first central banker to receive this award from The Banker.
In 2003, BusinessWeek chose Buenaventura as one of its five selected financiers in its 'Stars of Asia' report. They praised him for keeping strict economic rules during tough financial times.
See also
- Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
- Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
