(Nov 18): A former Philippine property tycoon who led tariff talks with the US will manage the nation’s finances, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr seeks to calm investors rattled by a widening corruption scandal.
Newly appointed Finance Secretary Frederick Go has been at the forefront of the Marcos administration’s investment push since becoming special assistant for economic affairs in December 2023. He also headed the delegation that held tariff talks with US President Donald Trump’s government.
Go nodded to the importance of maintaining business confidence in a brief statement after his appointment on Monday.
“I am fully committed to promoting fiscal strength and sustainable economic growth for the country,” Go said, pledging to work closely with “our partners in government, the private sector, and the international community”.
The 56-year-old is one of three officials appointed to key positions in the Marcos administration, after two ministers quit on Monday amid questions over graft in flood-control projects. Go has to both revive growth that slumped to a four-year low last quarter, and reassure investors who have made the Philippines one of the world’s worst-performing markets.
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The appointment “signals a pivot towards managerial discipline and tighter economic stewardship at a moment when public confidence is visibly frayed,” said Ederson Tapia, a professor of public administration at the University of the Philippines.
Go has a reputation for pro-business policies, and led real estate company Robinsons Land Corp before being tapped by Marcos to handle economic and investment policies. In the past two years, he worked to enact cuts in the corporate income tax rate and stock transaction tax, while also pushing measures to fast-track approvals of strategic investments.
Philippine stocks slid 0.6% on Tuesday morning, amid a general decline in Asian markets, bringing their year-to-date losses to more than 12%. The peso weakened towards a fresh record low against the US dollar, having declined 2% in 2025.
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“Going forward, we may see a mild appreciation in the peso should Frederick Go maintain his track record of attracting foreign direct investment and improving trade corridors, while bringing down inflation and bolstering the Philippines’ credit position,” Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at Ebury Partners Ltd, said in an email. That will depend on the success of his reforms “and his ability to detract attention away from the recent corruption controversies.”
The Philippine business community welcomed the appointment of Go, who was described as “a key technocrat and advocate of the private sector” by Rafael Ongpin, executive director of the Makati Business Club. Al Panlilio, of the Management Association of the Philippines, said Go “understands the importance of a partnership between public and private sectors.”
Go will take over as finance chief from Ralph Recto, who was named executive secretary to replace Lucas Bersamin. Bersamin, who has denied wrongdoing, resigned along with the budget secretary “after their departments were mentioned in allegations related to the flood control anomaly,” according to the government. Rolando Toledo will be the new budget chief.
The immediate challenge is the economy. On Nov 8, investors were stunned when third-quarter growth slumped to 4% from 5.5% in the previous quarter. Revelations of graft in flood control schemes led to massive protests, fuelled by anger over the heavy death tolls from the typhoons which regularly afflict the archipelago.
Those demonstrations raised the spectre of worse instability and led to a slump in household and business spending, compounded by a slowing of public projects to allow more scrutiny.
While Marcos had revealed the alleged irregularities in July and vowed to find the culprits, last week he had to defend against allegations of links to the corrupt scheme. That underscores the risk that the scandal may metastasize and claim more members of his administration, or deepen public anger and threaten broader stability.
A month before taking on the new post, Go sought to soothe investor concerns over the corruption scandal, saying “the negativity is overblown”.
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“This administration sees the fight against corruption and red tape as a core part of its economic strategy,” he said in an Oct 9 briefing.
For now, he is being viewed as a safe pair of hands for the economy.
“We could see an improvement in medium-term growth, however, should Go’s emphasis on business reforms and deficit reduction lead to increased foreign direct investments flows, lower borrowing costs and an improvement in the country’s credit ratings,” Ebury’s Ryan said.
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