Former Finance chief Teves receives honorary doctorate from Williams College

MANILA, Philippines - Former Finance Secretary Margarito Teves has received an honorary degree from Massachusetts-based Williams College.

Teves, chairman of business and economic consulting firm Think Tank Inc., has been given the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

A masteral graduate of the Williams College Center for Development Economics (CDE) in 1968, he was cited by his alma mater for his life of public service in the Philippines.

“Williams and the CDE take pride in all of [your] accomplishments and in your being known as refreshingly humble for so public a figure and as such an able explainer of complex issues to the public that you have so devotedly served,” said Williams College president Adam Falk.

The US-based university cited Teves’ accomplishments as a legislator, banker and government official.

These include Teves’ election to the Constitutional Convention in 1971; his 11 years in Congress where he promoted legislation to reform banking and finance, and increase investment from overseas; his almost five years as president of the government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines where he helped focus resources on small farms and fisheries and for returning the bank to its mandate and to profitability; and his term as the country’s second longest-serving Finance Secretary, during which time the Philippine economy achieved one of the highest economic growth rates in more than 30 years.

“To me, the most important facet of Gary’s career that you should know about is that he has served as a great example of public service in the Philippines. As is the case in many countries, it can be hard to attract good people to government service, but Gary, through his sincerity, his honesty, and his commitment to doing the best possible job for his country, has inspired many to enter public service, at home and abroad. And borrowing directly from Gary, and Frank Sinatra, I guess that you would have to say, he did it his way,” said Jerry Caprio, chairman of the executive committee of what is now known as the Williams Center for Policy Economics.

Teves was educated in Spain, England and the United States. He earned the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in business economics from the City of London College in England, and a master’s degree in development economics from the Center of Development Economics at Williams College.

In July 2005, Teves assumed his most stressful position, as he would call it, when he was named Secretary of Finance by then President Arroyo. He stepped down in 2010.

As Finance Secretary, he earned the 2009 Finance Minister of the Year for Asia Award by The Banker’s Magazine, an affiliate of The Financial Times of London and one of the world’s largest and most influential business publications.

This recognition was given to Teves during a most challenging time in economic history, when all countries in the world have been affected by the collapse of major global financial institutions.

It was during his term as finance secretary that the government raised the value-added tax rate through the Reformed Value-Added Tax (RVAT) Law and transferred to the private sector via competitive bidding several big-ticket government assets, thus contributing a significant amount of revenues to the National Government.