(Eagle News)–House deputy speaker and Batangas Rep. Ralph Recto is slated to replace Benjamin Diokno as Finance Secretary, the congressman’s wife, former lawmaker Vilma Santos-Recto, confirmed on Thursday, Jan. 11.

She said he is slated to take his oath in Malacañang on Friday, Jan. 12.

“He was given the trust because he is such a good economist,” she said.

Several of Recto’s fellow lawmakers welcomed the development even prior to the official appointment.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said he was “optimistic that key tax reforms pending in the Senate will also move faster with his appointment, due to his relationships in that chamber, as well as his ability to broker viable compromises.”

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, meanwhile, highlighted what he said was Recto’s ability to understand numbers.

“In the Senate, we always regarded him as the resident numbers genius. This was not just for his mathematical ability, but more importantly for his ability to immediately see the big picture implications of these numbers. More than most, he understands how to bridge the gap between the abstractions of mathematics and the very concrete realities that we face as a nation,” Zubiri said.

Recto was the proponent of the expanded Value Added Tax, and authored and sponsored laws such as the Salary Standardization Law and the Affordable Electricity Act.

He also held the post of director general of the National Economic Development Authority during then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration.