Cesar Virata, FM’s finance chief, 95

MANILA, Philippines — Cesar Virata, former Philippine prime minister and finance chief during the reign of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., died of natural causes, his family said in a statement yesterday. He was 95.

“A long-serving technocrat and statesman, Virata served as minister of finance from 1970 to 1986 and as prime minister from 1981 to 1986, playing a central role in shaping Philippine economic policy and international financial relations over two decades,” the family said.

Malacañang extended condolences to the family, describing Virata as  a consequential man.

Executive Secretary Ralph Recto said Virata’s impact can be traced across some of the defining chapters of the country’s modern economic history.

Virata became a director of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. in 1995 and a corporate vice chairman for 26 years. RCBC separately announced his death in a regulatory filing, saying Virata had been a member of the bank’s board for more than three decades.

Before entering government, Virata was a professor and dean of the University of the Philippines College of Business Administration. He also worked at SyCip Gorres Velayo & Co., where he became principal of its management services division.

He graduated from UP with degrees in mechanical engineering and business administration, cum laude, before completing a master’s degree in business administration in industrial management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Virata is survived by his wife, Phylita Joy Gamboa Virata; their children Steven, Gillian and Michael; grandchildren Enzo, Danni, Xavi and Diego and great-grandchildren Coco and Sierra.