De Zuñiga replaces Suratos as BSP deputy governor

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has announced the promotion of Assistant Governor and General Counsel Juan de Zuñiga Jr. to the position of deputy governor, replacing Armando Suratos who retired Dec. 5.

BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. told reporters that De Zuñiga would be in charge of the BSP’s Resource Management Sector and the Security Plant Complex and, at the same time, would retain his post as General Counsel of the central bank.

In the course of his work as BSP General Counsel, De Zuñiga helped in the affirmation of the legality and validity of the supervisory actions of the policy-setting Monetary Board taken against banks, particularly Urban Bank, Rural Bank of San Miguel (Bulacan), Bank of Cebu and the Legacy banks.

He also helped in the affirmation that the supervisory actions of the BSP were done in the performance of statutory functions, thereby resulting to the dismissal of the harassment cases filed against certain officials of the central bank.

De Zuñiga also helped in the prosecution of erring bank directors and officers resulting in the arrest and conviction as well as in the foreclosure or attachment of assets to settle loans with the BSP.

Furthermore, he is in charge of the publication of The New Central Bank Annotated.

The new deputy governor also represented the central bank in various banking conferences sponsored by the International Monetary Fund, the Bank of International Settlements, the European Central Bank, the South East Asian Central Banks Centre, the Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latinamericanos, and by other central banks.

De Zuniga is also a lecturer on banking laws at the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Program of the Supreme Court and the Philippine Judicial Academy.

He has also participated in legislative initiatives leading to the enactments of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, the Special Purpose Vehicles Act and the Credit Information System Act.

He is also actively pursuing the amendment of Republic Act 7653, also known as the BSP Charter, as well as the sponsorship of the proposed Payment and Settlement Systems Act.

De Zuniga earned his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the Far Eastern University. He placed fifth in the 1970 bar examinations.

He started his legal work at the then Central Bank of the Philippines and soon joined the Bank of Commerce where he served as executive vice president in charge of the legal group, human resource management, corporate planning and communications, and branch expansion and products development.

He also served as president of the Association of Bank Lawyers of the Philippines Inc. He rejoined the central bank in 2000.

For his part, Suratos retired after serving the central bank for 40 years. He last served as head of the Resource Management Sector and concurrently in-charge of the Security Plant Complex which he occupied for 12 years.

Suratos, who holds a law degree from the Ateneo de Manila University, served as technical assistant at the Supreme Court before joining the central bank. He ranked eighth in the 1971 bar examinations after completing his law degree at Ateneo and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at the University of the Philippines.

He also attended Georgetown University in Washington in 1975.