The Philippine central bank’s monetary board only had four sitting members during Eli Remolona’s first interest-rate decision as governor, requiring them to be in lockstep as three seats remained vacant.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has yet to appoint replacements for the posts left in early July by Antonio Abacan, Peter Favila, and by Remolona himself who moved up as the board’s chairman.
Remolona, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Bruce Tolentino and Anita Linda Aquino comprised the board when it decided to keep the key interest rate unchanged on Thursday.
“There was little deliberation on the data presented,” Diokno said Friday about the decision. “We voted individually” and reaching consensus was “not difficult at all.”
The central bank’s charter requires all decisions of the Monetary Board to have the concurrence of at least four members. The minimum four applies even for a move to close a bank, but five votes are needed to extend an emergency loan.
Decision-making may face some hurdles if the three seats remain vacant for much longer and questions arise if the absence of a dissenting vote is going to be a problem down the road. Diokno said the vacancies will be filled “soon.”
Monetary board members serve a term of six years, and can be reappointed. A seat reserved for a member of the cabinet is currently occupied by Diokno. The rest are typically held by private sector representatives.
