MANILA, Philippines – Alfredo Pascual, who earlier stepped down from his position as head of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), has now joined the board of the country’s biggest bank.

In a stock market disclosure on Monday, September 2, BDO announced that Pascual was elected as an independent director during the board’s regular meeting on August 31.

Pascual fills in the seat vacated by BDO non-executive director Walter Wassmer, who left BDO after he was appointed by the President to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Monetary Board earlier in July.

A few weeks after Wassmer left, Pascual announced his resignation as DTI secretary effective August 2, saying that “it is time for me to return to the private sector.” He joined BDO that same month.

Pascual has held a number of leadership positions. Before serving as DTI secretary from June 2022 to August 2024, he was president of the Management Association of the Philippines. He also sat as an independent director on the boards of Megawide Construction and Concepcion Industrial. Pascual was also the former president of the University of the Philippines.

This also isn’t the first time Pascual worked with the Sy family. In 2017, he served as the lead independent director of SM Investments, the Philippines’ largest company in terms of market capitalization.

Aside from Pascual’s election as an independent director, the BDO board also announced the promotion of the following senior officers from the rank of first vice president to senior vice president, effective February 1, 2024.

1. Susie Cham (branch banking group)
2. Caroline Garcia (transaction banking group)
3. Rommel Gomez (branch banking group)
4. Jaime Talingdan (BDO Network Bank, Inc.)
5. Alice Teh (treasury group)

Montiel Delos Santos, BDO’s senior vice president and head of treasury marketing, is also set to retire effective September 1. – Rappler.com