Filipino economist biography

Filipino economist, academic, and government official

In this Philippine name, the middle name or maternal family name is Molina and the surname or paternal family name is Balisacan.

Arsenio Balisacan
Official portrait,
Incumbent
Assumed office June 30,
President	Bongbong Marcos
Preceded by	Karl Kendrick Chua
In office May 10, &#;– January 31,
President	Benigno S. Aquino III
Preceded by	Cayetano Paderanga Jr.
Succeeded by	Emmanuel Esguerra (OIC)
In office February 1, &#;– June 30,
President	Benigno S. Aquino III Rodrigo Duterte
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	Johannes Benjamin R. Bernabe (OIC)
In office –
Preceded by	Ruben L. Villareal
Succeeded by	Gil C. Saguiguit, Jr.
Born	Arsenio Molina Balisacan () November 8, (age&#;67) Solsona, Ilocos Norte
Nationality	Filipino
Alma mater	Mariano Marcos State University (BS) University of the Philippines Los Baños (MS) University of Hawaii at Manoa (Ph.D. Ec.)
Occupation	Economist

Arsenio Molina Balisacan (born November 8, ) is a Filipino economist and academician currently serving as the Secretary of the National Economic and Development Command (NEDA).^[2] Balisacan first served as the NEDA Secretary from May ^[3][4] to January under the Benigno Aquino III administration.

He then served under the Duterte administration as the Chairperson of the Philippine Competition Commission from February 1, , to June 30, ^[5] He was again appointed as NEDA Secretary under the Bongbong Marcos administration.^[6] During his first term in , he concurrently served as NEDA Secretary and as Chairman of the Boards of the Philippine Statistics Authority, Philippine Institute for Development Studies, Philippine Center for Economic Development, and Public-Private Partnership Center.

Prior to his Cabinet appointment, Balisacan served as both Professor and Dean of the School of Economics at the University of the Philippines Diliman (UP) while he was running the Philippine Center for Economic Development as its executive director.^[7] He additionally served as the Director-Chief Executive of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA),^[7] during a period of secondment from the university.

Bernardo Villegas - Wikipedia: These economists are among the most prominent in their field, and communication about each well-known economist from Philippines is included when accessible. This list features Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and more famous Filipino people in economics.

Balisacan also served as a research fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu and an economist at the Society Bank in Washington, DC prior to joining the UP faculty in As a PhD in economics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa,^[8] Balisacan is a renowned academician of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) since ^[9]

Early years

Balisacan was born in Solsona, Ilocos Norte, a remote town located at the foot of the Cordillera mountain range in Luzon.

His father initially worked as a farm tenant tilling fields in a resource-poor, isolated village of the town. When their nun relative convinced his father to take on a janitorial job in Laoag City, however, his family had to create the difficult choice of vanishing their farm life behind.

During their life in the capital, Balisacan, his parents, and his five other siblings had were left with little choice but to settle down in a precarious area of land (where they were later on be evicted from). Balisacan recalled that it was during his elevated school years when their family was forced out of the property and forced to proceed back to their tiny village at the easternmost part of Ilocos Norte.

“It was tough. It was only later on that I realized that we were an informal settler. We were squatting in somebody’s country. [When] I was already in high school, we were evicted from that place, and we had to return to that old town of ours,” Balisacan shared.^[10]

From his primary-school days all the way to his journey during post-graduate studies, Balisacan had to rely on scholarships, grants, and part-time employment for financial support while his family struggled.

He spent most of his formative years of basic learning process under the tutelage of the Divine Word College of Laoag and completed the last two years of secondary education in Ablan Memorial Academy of Solsona where he graduated as the valedictorian.

Balisacan credits his mother's aunt, Isidra Rivera, who was mayor of the town of Solsona, as his early inspiration in life. “She devoted her life selflessly to this town,” he says. “She had actually very little physical possessions in life, especially when viewed in today’s cadre of local politicians.

What she had in abundance was deep respect and affectionate by her people, unblemished credibility, and genuine concern for the poor.”^[11]

Just when their family began to experience more financial struggles, Balisacan's eldest brother graduated from Divine Word College, equipped with an Accounting degree.

He was offered a job in Cebu City by Atlas Mining, which allowed him to uproot the family and bring them to settle down in Cebu. Balisacan, however, who was an Agriculture scholar at the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) at the time, was left to keep behind in Batac, Ilocos Norte.

Read more of his initial years in these featured articles, "Arsenio M. Balisacan: Resolute at 25" by Cai Ordinario, Business Mirror Anniversary Issue ^[10] and "Top Philippine Economist to See Hawaii" by Belinda Aquino, Hawaii Filipino Chronicle.^[11]

Education

Balisacan received a B.S.

degree in agriculture from the Mariano Marcos State University in , graduating magna cum laude.^[7] Awarded a graduate scholarship by the Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Explore in Agriculture (SEARCA), he then took up a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in agricultural economics from the University of the Philippines Los Baños,^[7] from which he graduated in He received his Ph.D.

in economics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in ,^[8] with the dissertation "A positive theory of economic protection: Agricultural Policies in Developed and Developing Countries".^[12]

Balisacan received critical support from the East-West Center (EWC) while studying at the University of Hawaii.

He served as research intern from July to May and was a Joint-Doctoral Research Intern from May to September under the Resource Systems Institute of EWC. Upon earning his PhD he served as a investigate fellow from October to Pride ^[11]

Part of his pioneering PhD dissertation on the political economy of agricultural policy was later published in the Review of World Economics titled, “Public Option of Economic Policy: The Development of Agricultural Protection” in

He was named as one of the outstanding alumni at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), (College of Economics and Management) (CEM)’s centenary.

He was conferred the Distinguished Alumni Award by the East-West Center (EWC) and East-West Center Alumni Association (EWCAA), the Distinguished Alumni Award by the UPLB Alumni Association, the Outstanding Alumni Award by the East-West Center Alumni Association Philippines, and the Most Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Mariano Marcos State University.

Professional career

Starting out as an economist

As Balisacan wrapped up his PhD studies at the University of Hawaii Manoa, he took up a post as a analyze fellow at the East-West Center in – He then moved to Washington D.C.

in to serve as an economist for the World Bank.^[7]

Returning to the Philippines

He came back to the Philippines in and became an assistant professor of economics at the University of the Philippines Los Banos until , when he moved to UP Diliman and joined the faculty of the University of the Philippines School of Economics, eventually receiving an academic appointment as entire professor in ^[7]

Balisacan was a recipient of various academic and professional awards.

Here are the top economists from the Philippines. You may click on the link to see their background and achievements. RELATED: List of Famous Economists from around the world. See also: List of Filipino Scientists and Their Contributions To Science. Loading.

He was elected as academician to the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) of the Philippines in ^[9] NAST is the country's peer-elected group of handpick individuals who have made unmatched contributions to science and technology.

As a highly respected academic, he held various positions in academic organizations and advisory groups locally and abroad. He was a member (–) of the board of academic advisors of the Chinese Center for Agricultural Policy at the Chinese Science Academy and president of the Asian Society of Agricultural Economists (–).

He was chairman of the board of academic advisors of the Asian Institute of Management's Center for Bridging Societal Divides (August to ) and member of the policy advisory council of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (June to May ).

Balisacan also became president of the Philippine Economic Society – the national learned society for economists – in ^[7]

He founded the Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, an internationally refereed journal, and served as its editor in –

He also became an adjunct professor at the Australian National University in –^[7]

He is one of the most cited scholars in the Philippines with an h-index of 31 according to Google Scholar.

DA

Seconded from UP, he served as Undersecretary for Policy and Planning at the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) from to , also serving as Officer-in-Charge at the Agricultural Credit and Policy Council.

Bernardo Malvar Villegas born Protest 12, is a Filipino economist and writer best known for being one of the framers of the Philippine Constitution[ 1 ] [ 2 ] for authoring a number of widely used Philippine economics textbooks, [ 3 ] and for his role in the founding of two influential Philippine business organizations, the Center for Research and Communication [ 4 ] and the Makati Business Club. He is also known for advising Philippine presidents since the Fifth Philippine Republic came into control in[ 6 ] and as a professor and vice president at the University of Asia and the Pacific, [ 7 ] as well as visiting professor at the IESE Business School in Barcelona. Villegas is a Certified Public Accountanthaving obtained his bachelor's degree in commerce and the humanities both summa cum laude from De La Salle University. He later earned his doctorate degree in economics at the Harvard University[ 8 ] becoming a teaching fellow at Harvard's College of Arts and Sciences at the age of

In this capacity, he served as the Philippine leader negotiator in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agriculture Negotiations and in various bilateral agriculture negotiations.^[7] He returned to this position as Undersecretary for Policy and Planning at the Department of Agriculture for a brief stint in

SEARCA

Balisacan's abilities as an institution builder are most exemplified by what he has done to bring the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Research and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA),^[7] one of the centers of excellence of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), to new heights as it continues the journey for relevance and excellence as a maturation institution.

Serving as the center's director and chief executive in –, he restructured the institution to respond to the altering needs, demands, and priorities of its stakeholders, especially the call for institutional capacity-building in the region's less developed countries in the wake of globalization, environmental degradation, and global climate adjust .

Sound financial management, coupled with innovative approaches to institutional partnerships to reach out to stakeholders, enabled the center not only to regain lost ground, but also to achieve a respectable level of financial sustainability.

Indeed, the work and activities of SEARCA became visible again not only in the region it covers but also to the rest of the world. His accomplishments at SEARCA is summarized in his exit report titled, "Mainstreaming Agriculture in the Training Agenda"

UPSE

Back at UP, in , Balisacan was appointed dean of the School of Economics at the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPSE).

He earned his B. This Filipino biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Contents move to sidebar hide.

As dean, he concurrently served as executive director of the Philippine Center for Economic Progress and chairman of the UPecon Foundation Inc.

NEDA

Balisacan held these academic posts until he was seconded from UP to the National Economic and Development Leadership (NEDA) when Philippine President Benigno S.

Aquino III asked him to serve as NEDA Main person. Aquino signed his appointment papers on May 10, ,^[3] and was confirmed by the bicameral Committee on Appointments of the Philippine Congress on February 6, ^[13]

Secretary Balisacan was tasked to address the critical constraints that make economic growth slow, uneven, and exclusive to certain segments of the Philippine society.

Concurrent to his role in NEDA, he served as board chairman of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies and the Philippine Center for Economic Development; the first Governing Board Chairperson of the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines; and the first board chairperson of the Philippine Statistics Authority (which combines the National Statistical Coordination Board, the National Statistics Office, the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, the Department of Labor and Employment's Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics, and the Philippine Statistical Research Institute.)^[7]

At these key positions, Secretary Balisacan was able to influence policies, programs, and projects to facilitate inclusive economic growth, employment creation, and poverty reduction.

He was partly to be commended for the recent remarkable performance of the Philippine economy. In to , the seven-year average growth of the Philippine economy was percent, the country's fastest in 40 years. Recognizing the importance of maintaining the momentum, he and his senior colleagues in government work on crafting a forward-looking agenda, (Ambisyon Natin ), which articulated a vision for an inclusive and prosperous Philippines (See Foreword, Preface, and Chapter 1 of R.

Clarete, E. Esguerra, and H. Hill, , The Philippine Economy: No Longer the East Asian Exception?, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies). Through (Executive Order No. 5), the next administration adopted the Ambisyon Natin as the long-term vision for the Philippines.

The order resonates in the administration's medium-term development blueprint, the (Philippine Development Plan ). Today, the Philippine economy remains one of the best-performing developing economies in Asia.^{[14][15][16][17][18]}

PCC

Following the passage of the Philippine Competition Act (PCA) by Congress in ,^[19][20] President Benigno S.

Aquino III formed the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC)^[21] in January , appointing Balisacan to serve as its first chairperson.^[22]PCC is an independent quasi-judicial body created to promote and guard market competition by prohibiting anti-competitive conduct and practices, including cartels and anti-competitive mergers.

As the country's antitrust agency, PCC plays a key role in helping achieve a vibrant and inclusive economy and advancing consumer welfare.^[23]

Balisacan's effective leadership, combined with a competition act that gives the enforcer broad powers, has gotten the PCC off to a good start, placing the commission among the top emerging enforcers in developing countries only two years after its formation.^[24] Nonetheless, he faces formidable challenges as competition czar because the Philippines is cited as one of the most restrictive economies in the world (see Fostering Contest in the Philippines: The Question of Restrictive Regulation by the World Bank).

Benjamin Estoista Diokno born March 31, is a Filipino economist who currently serves as one of the six members of the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinaswhich conducts the country's monetary policy and supervises its financial system. Benjamin Diokno was born on March 31,in Taal, Batangas. His oldest brother Bayani Diokno —became a member of the US Navy for nearly three decades. Jose W.

Personal life

Arsenio Balisacan is a long-distance jogger. He has run in the New York Marathon (virtually) in , Paris Marathon in , Chicago Marathon in October and in the Honolulu Marathon in ^[25][26][27]

References

External links