Homegrown talent

BUSINESS CORRIDOR

- FIL C. SIONIL

Exactly 34 days from now, a change in the stewardship of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Financial Supervision Sector (FSS) is upon us, as its current head reaches the mandatory retirement age.

It feels like just yesterday she walked into the corridors of what was then known as the Central Bank of the Philippines in 1984, a mere 24-year-old, to join the institution’s battery of bank examiners.

That’s right, Virginia, bulls-eye! I’m referring to the dimpled, soft-spoken Deputy Governor (DG) Chuchi Fonacier, the hybrid La Salle-Ateneo alumna, who will be retiring this July 31.

Why hybrid? She earned her Bachelor of Science in Commerce from the University of St. La Salle-Bacolod before pursuing her Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) at Ateneo de Manila University.

Yes, she’s counting the days until she finally assumes the dual role (sans the title) of “mother and wifey” to her family, along with tackling mundane household chores.

“I look forward to my retirement and being a full-time housewife and mother to my three grownup children (Chia, Mark, and James),” she tells me, not with qualms or inhibitions, but with longing and desire.