Arroyo brushes off talk she is in the running to be next BSP gov

MANILA - Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo brushed off Tuesday talk that she is in the running to be the next head of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas following the death of its chief Nestor Espenilla.

"They're all hypothetical," Arroyo told reporters in a Manila elementary school.

President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to appoint a new central bank chief since Espenilla passed away Saturday after a one-year-long battle with tongue cancer.

Presumed contenders for Espenilla's post include his three deputy governors, Diwa Guinigundo, Chuchi Fonacier and Cyd Tuano-Amador, the current officer-in-charge.

Monetary Board member and former trade secretary Peter Favila is also rumored to be in the running.

• Bangko Sentral insider seen as best successor to Espenilla

Arroyo was first rumored to be running to become chief of the central bank when then-governor Amado Tetangco retired from the post.

The former president is set to end her final term as a lawmaker on June 30 this year and had previously said she would retire from politics.

• Arroyo says to retire from politics in 2019

-report from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News