Cesar E.A. Virata, the former Philippine prime minister who ran the country’s finance ministry for 16 years, died on Friday, October 2, at the age of 95, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) announced. He was still the bank’s corporate vice chairperson and a member of its board when he died. RCBC did not say what caused his death.
Virata’s ties to RCBC went back three decades. He joined the bank’s board in 1995 and held the corporate vice chairperson role for 26 years. In its disclosure, the bank said it announced his passing “with deep sorrow.”
His public career ran through the Marcos Sr. years. Virata was secretary, and later minister, of finance from 1970 to 1986, and served as prime minister from 1981 to 1986 under former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. During that period he also sat on the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of the Philippines and chaired the finance committee of the Batasang Pambansa. He led the boards of the Board of Investments, Land Bank of the Philippines, and Philippine National Bank.
Virata also represented the Philippines on the global stage. He was the country’s governor to both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, and from 1976 to 1980 he chaired the joint World Bank-International Monetary Fund Development Committee.
Before entering government, Virata built his career in academe and consulting. He taught at the University of the Philippines and served as dean of its College of Business Administration, and he was a principal in the Management Services Division of SyCip Gorres Velayo & Co. He joined RCBC’s board nine years after his term as prime minister ended and remained there until his death.
