Tinga becomes DBP acting chair under Marcos

Malacaang stated on Friday, December 23, that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. nominated former Supreme Court associate judge Dante Tinga as interim chairman and member of the board of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

The government-owned bank is supervised by the Department of Finance, which processed the December 9 appointment.

Tinga took his oath on Thursday, December 22 in Malacaang before Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court.

The DBP is the principal government financial agency supporting the nation’s important development programs, including the creation of economic zones and the financing of infrastructure projects.

Marcos and his legislative supporters have recently advocated for the DBP and Landbank of the Philippines, another government-owned bank, to fund the Maharlika Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund.

Tinga, 83, was an associate member of the Supreme Court from 2003 to 2009, although his life has not been solely devoted to the bench.

From 1987 until 1998, he was a member of the House of Representatives for the single district of Taguig-Pateros. In the 2022 elections, he attempted again to become a member of Congress as the first nominee of the newly-formed Silbi Partylist, which failed to win a single seat.

In addition, Tinga served as dean of the University of the East College of Law from 1989 to 1993, as well as from 2017 to 2018.