they have departed for the Great Beyond.
Except for a stint with this country’s leading management services firm – Sycip, Gorrez, Velayo & Co. –Virata’s pre-1986 career consisted of service with the government. In the three government institutions that he headed – the Business Administration Department of the University of the Philippines , the Board of Investments and the Department of Finance , Virata served with distinction and exemplariness.
Under Virata’s leadership, BOI brought to reality the aspiration of the authors of the Investment Incentives Act. In time, the BOI became a highly effective government financial institution, respected by the foreign and domestic business communities. Virata set the template for the structure and operations of an institution mandated to oversee a country’s investment sector.
At the time he started his career in government, Virata almost certainly did not expect that his personal philosophy and public persona would be subjected to serious challenge down the road. The challenge materialized when President Marcos placed the nation under martial law – and assumed dictatorial powers – in September 1972.