Arroyo's rising star

Jose Isidro Camacho is considered to be the brightest prospect in Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's cabinet. His glittering investment banking career started with a cum laude graduation from de la Salle, was followed by a Harvard MBA, then by experience in trading and corporate finance which culminated in heading the South-East Asian operations of Bankers Trust (BT). After BT was bought by Deutsche, Camacho decided to return home to the Philippines, accepting a post as Deutsche's country head. In February this year he took a rumoured 97% pay cut to become secretary of the department of energy, then in June he was promoted to head of the department of finance. He has quickly become one of Manila's most respected cabinet members. He talks to Matthew Montagu-Pollock.