MANILA: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has picked House Deputy Speaker as the new head of the Department of Finance (DOF), replacing Benjamin Diokno, Malacañang announced Thursday. Marcos will lead Recto's oath-taking on Friday, Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil said in a statement sent to Palace reporters. Recto will relinquish his posts as Batangas 6th District congressman and subsequently, as one of the Deputy Speakers at the House of Representatives. He also served three terms in the Senate, where he served as the Senate President Pro Tempore and Senate Minority Leader. Before being elected senator, he was a three-term congressman of Batangas' 4th District. He also worked as director general of the National Economic and Development Authority in 2008 to 2009 under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Recto earned his bachelor's degree in Commerce major in Business Management from De La Salle University-Manila. He also acquired a master's degree in Strategic Business Economics from the Univers ity of Asia and the Pacific and another master's degree in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines. He took up a leadership course at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Apart from Recto, Frederick Go will also take his oath before Marcos as Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs, Garafil said. Source: Philippines News Agency