Purisima names Sycip-Salazar lawyer as new Finance undersecretary

MANILA, Philippines – Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima announced yesterday the appointment of Carlo Carag as the new Finance Undersecretary for Revenue, Operations, and Legal Affairs Group.

Purisima administered Carag’s oath of office last Aug. 27. He replaces Estela Sales, who moved to the Bureau of Internal Revenue as Deputy Commissioner for Legal and Enforcement. Sales, in turn, replaced former Deputy Commissioner Gregorio Cabantac.

The Revenue, Operations and Legal Affairs Group deals with all the legal transactions of the Department of Finance. It is also in charge of filing cases against erring revenue officials. 

Carag, 52-year old, is a law graduate from the University of the Philippines. He pursued post-graduate studies at the London School of Economics as the first Filipino lawyer awarded a scholarship by the British Government Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Prior to this appointment in the Finance department, Carag worked as managing partner in a private law firm and as an associate lawyer with the law firm Sycip, Salazar, Hernandez & Gatmaitan.

His fields of legal practice include international business transactions, intellectual property law, telecommunications law, computer law, taxation, corporate law and securities law.

His expertise also includes real estate law, litigation and arbitration, banking and finance, mining law, labor law, maritime law, insurance and aviation law.

He also served as chairman, taxation committee and local governments subcommittee of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 2000 to 2002; a member and accredited arbitrator of the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. (PDRCI) of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a legal resource person in seminars on “Mining Investment Opportunities in the Philippines” held in Toronto, London and Manila sponsored by the United Nations.

His appointment completes the formation of a new team at the Finance department.