Bernadette Romulo-Puyat

Bernadette Fatima Tecson Romulo-Puyat (born May 14, 1971) is a Filipino government official, economist, and academic who served as the Secretary of Tourism under the Duterte administration from May 2018 to June 2022, heading the Philippines' tourism industry through the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. She has since been appointed Deputy Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in charge of financial inclusion, regional operations, and the BSP's Program Management Office. Her previous positions include terms as a consultant for the Presidential Management Staff, Undersecretary for the Department of Agriculture, and lecturer at the UP School of Economics.

Early life and education

Bernadette Romulo-Puyat is the fourth amongst the five children of Filipino politician and diplomat, Alberto Romulo and Lovely Tecson. She attended the University of the Philippines Diliman and pursued an undergraduate and a master's degree in economics. She once aspired to become like her mother but later on, considering her exposure and familiarity to politics at early age, she ended up joining the Philippine political scene.

Career

Early career

Romulo-Puyat was an instructor at the UP School of Economics. After being in the academe, she joined politics in 2004 by attempting to become the First District Representative of Quezon City. However, she lost the elections to Vincent Crisologo by 2,000 votes with Puyat readily conceding Crisologo's victory and deciding to thereafter spend more time with her family instead. Her brief political experience made her more aware of the conditions of the people affected by poverty, as a result, she put up "''Botika ng Bayan''" (People's Pharmacy) across some areas in Metro Manila to provide affordable medicines or generic drugs.

As Presidential Management Staff consultant

Puyat also worked with the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) as deputy cabinet secretary and economic consultant during the tenure of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

As agriculture undersecretary (2007–2018)

In January 2007, Puyat became the undersecretary for special concerns at the Department of Agriculture (DA) under the former Secretary Arthur Yap. She ensured that foreign grants were directed accordingly to projects intended for farmers. She also focused on working with the agricultural concerns of women from the rural community that include financing technical support in provision of seedlings, planting materials, fermentation boxes and processing equipment for the Manobo women farmers, promotion and marketing of agricultural products for the coffee farmers across Kalinga, Bukidnon and Mt. Kanlaon; and pili, cacao and cassava farmers across Camarines Sur. She also took part in the establishment of an organic village for indigenous women farmers in Davao.

Secretary of Tourism (2018–2022)

Following the resignation of Wanda Teo due to her alleged involvement with issues surrounding a tourism advertisement placement on People's Television Network (PTV), Bernadette Romulo-Puyat was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as Secretary of the Department of Tourism (DOT) on May 11, 2018. Romulo-Puyat announced her plan to give farm tourism a focus and also made review on the Philippines' possible hosting of the Miss Universe 2018 pageant which her predecessor was involved in. Romulo-Puyat dropped the Philippines' hosting bid due to budgetary concerns.

In her first month as Secretary of Tourism, Romulo-Puyat alleged that corruption was rampant in the DOT, claiming the existence of schemes involving "hundred of millions" of funds within the government agency. She ordered the suspension of all projects of the DOT pending review from the Commission on Audit. She also directed all undersecretaries and assistant secretaries, including Cesar Montano

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