Former Department of Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Saturday said he is looking forward to longer family bonding and activities toward his personal goals.

“With my new assignment, I’ll have more time for myself, my family and friends,” he said in a Viber message to the media.

“I’ll also have more time and space to pursue my own personal and professional goals that I’ve been postponing all these years,” Diokno continued.

Monetary Board

Diokno will now be serving as a Monetary Board member of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, after Ralph Recto on Friday was officially announced by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as the new finance chief.

Previously, Diokno also worked as secretary of the Department of Budget and Management from 1998 to 2001, and BSP governor from 2019 to 2022.

“For the last eight years, I feel like I’ve run non-stop on a treadmill — from DBM to BSP at the height of the pandemic, and then DoF,” he said.

Cooling down

“Now, I’m in the cooling down phase of that long run, which I think I truly deserve,” Diokno added.

Under his leadership, the DoF and its sub-agencies posted over eight percent growth in national government collection; more than $17 billion in funds from Islamic, digital and dollar bond sales; and lower debt-to-GDP ratio of 60.2 percent in the third quarter from 61 percent in the prior quarter of 2023.