This year, on February 10, an institution in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) celebrated her centennial. I am talking of Mrs. Escolastica B. Bince, who is, if anything, an institution in the BSP, having been one of its originals when the central bank was created in 1949. A ’49er, she was one of the elite group of pioneers who opened the doors of the newly established Philippine Central Bank.
Our “Mama Ticang Bince,” the ultimate central bank institution, has just celebrated her 100th birthday. She has outlived a number of those of us of the former Department of Economic Research (DER) of the BSP. I recall having written a short admiring biography of her back in February 8, 2006, when she was about to turn 90. It was the loving birthday gift of one of her often-sent-to-tears “children,” and I recall, when it was presented to her, that in her inimitable way, she “scolded” me for writing such as what would usually be reserved for one who had already passed away. My tongue-in-cheek reply was, “Then how could you read it?” Which remark turns out to be grossly mistaken, 10 years to the day I wrote it.
Together with her other “children” in DER, now dwindling in number, we have trooped to her house every February for the past 10 years, and she is still as full of beans today as she was when she was the “terror” of her staff, bankers and, yes, even International Monetary Fund (IMF) representatives. Mrs. Bince can be credited with having trained almost all of past and present governors of the BSP, including the current governor (for whom she even played Cupid). Indeed, she is indubitably the one and only central bank icon, an institution herself.
For those who have not had the great opportunity of having worked with her, or known her, allow me to provide a brief story of her life. Born on February 10, 1916, to a farmer-father and mother who sold goods in the public market, she grew up and studied in Pangasinan, and always finished as the valedictorian of her class from elementary to high school. She earned her BSBA from University of the Philippines, cum laude; was a third placer in the Certified Public Accountant examinations. Joining the central bank as a temporary researcher, she rose from the ranks to become the deputy governor for Economic Research, where she pioneered in the development of statistical reports and analyses, which to this day are the basic foundations of basic central bank reporting. Especially close to her heart was the setting up of the balance of payments accounts, after she trained at the IMF, the only female participant at the time.
Always part of the team of representatives of the country at meetings at the IMF and the World Bank, Southeast Asian central banks, Asean, etc., she has been the indispensable right hand of all the governors she assisted for over three decades. With the IMF, she has been the negotiator par excellence (when the Philippines had to avail itself of a number of loans, now a thing of the past) often putting the fear of God to all parties concerned, and quelling the IMF demands for “conditionalities.”
How lucky I was to cut my teeth in public service, mentored along with my colleagues by an unrelenting tutor, even if over the years I had shed enough tears to inundate Central Luzon! Particularly during those times that we were working our heads off preparing materials for the governor to bring to Washington.
But scared as we were of her in work-related matters, we found her motherly care among the most endearing traits that keep us “attached” to her to this day. We became an extension of her family—her husband, who was Papa Bince to us; and her children, Fe, Chuchi (her junior who celebrates her birthday on the same day), Purita, Boy, Pipes and, the youngest, Benjie. We became part of family events, such as Papa Bince’s and her ruby and golden wedding anniversaries, and, of course, her annual birthday celebrations.
Mama Ticang was a “compleat” woman who successfully combined home and career—devoted wife and mother to her family; exacting boss to her staff, and hardworking government official. She was a loyal and loving friend. Friendship, however, did not interfere with her high standards for promoting her staff or sending them for training abroad. Her exacting standards bore fruit, as many of those who passed through her fine-tooth comb became heads of the other departments of the bank and other agencies, or became important high officials of the BSP—indeed, the current governor, Amando “Say” M. Tetangco Jr., who continues to host annually a reunion of DER retirees, foremost among whom is Bince.
I could go on and on, and surely many of us could contribute a lot of other reminiscences, which a single column can hardly contain. Fortuitously, in my column way back in 2006, I said, “Surely, we wish to attend her 100th birthday party….” And, indeed, that day has come, and so, may I again greet her, happy centennial, Mama Bince!