Sole premier showed integrity in uneasy era

Cesar E.A. Virata, prime minister during the Ferdinand Marcos Sr. administration and one of the country’s longest-serving finance ministers, died on Friday, 2 October. He was 95.

Virata was prime minister from 1981 to 1986 while also serving as finance minister, making him a key figure in economic policymaking during the final years of the Marcos Sr. administration.

During the discussions of the University of the Philippines (UP) Board of Regents over naming the business school after him, senior faculty explicitly described Virata as “a technocrat, not a crony.” He was not part of Marcos’ inner circle, they said.

Contemporary and later accounts identified Virata among the technocrats who occupied key economic posts during the early martial law period.

Some economic historians distinguish these technocrats from the Marcos political and business cronies, although that distinction does not erase their participation in the regime.

Before entering government, Virata was a professor and dean of the University of the Philippines College of Business Administration from 1960 to 1967. During his tenure, the MBA program was established at UP Diliman.

In 2013, the UP Board of Regents renamed the college the Cesar E.A. Virata School of Business in his honor.

Virata built his early professional career at SyCip Gorres Velayo & Co. (SGV), where he became a senior partner and headed the firm’s Management Services Division before entering government service.

He became the first director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), helping oversee the country’s economic planning and development programs.

In 1970, Virata began serving as finance minister, overseeing the national budget and debt restructuring while dealing with international monetary institutions.

He remained in the post as the local economy faced mounting deficits, the global oil crises, and growing political and economic pressures during the latter years of the Marcos Sr. administration.

In the 1980s, he made energy security a priority, supporting the development of hydroelectric power and fuel and coal-related systems to reduce the country’s dependence on imported energy.

Virata also focused on social development and its links to food production, wealth distribution, manufacturing, transportation and communications.

He was a grandnephew of Emilio Aguinaldo, the revolutionary leader and the Philippines’ first president. After the 1986 People Power Revolution, Salvador Laurel succeeded Virata as prime minister under President Corazon Aquino.

Virata also represented the Philippines in international financial institutions, including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

Exemplary gov’t official

The Makati Business Club (MBC), where Virata served as a trustee for 13 years, from 1990 to 2003, extolled the prolific public servant as “a progressive leader who placed importance on technological advancement and economic development to achieve social progress during his time.”

“We express our condolences to his family, including his nephew and MBC member Luis

Juan “Buboy” Virata,” the business group said.

He was also recognized as one of the prominent business leaders honored during the MBC’s 35th anniversary for his stewardship and contributions to the organization.

At his passing, Virata was vice chairman of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. He was also a former president of the Bankers Association of the Philippines.