Bankers, fund managers and economists who spoke to Reuters said Duterte should pick a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) insider to carry on reforms started by Espenilla, who became governor in July 2017.

While an outsider is also possible, he or she would need to have a good track record and be well versed in banking and macroeconomics, they said.

Here are their top picks for the post.

MARIA ALMASARA CYD TUANO-AMADOR

Amador, 62, came of out retirement in 2017 to lead the central bank's corporate services sector in charge of managing communications and risks strategy.

She is currently one of three deputy governors, and officer-in-charge of the bank until Duterte names a new governor.

Previously, Amador was assistant governor for monetary policy from 2009 to 2015. She was seconded to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2003 to 2006.

Amador holds two master's degrees from the University of the Philippines School of Economics and the Graduate Institute of Policy Science in Tokyo, and a doctorate in economics from the Australian National University.

CHUCHI FONACIER

Fonacier, 58, is deputy governor in charge of financial supervision and examination, a position Espenilla held before becoming governor.

She joined the BSP as a bank examiner 35 years ago, rising to assistant governor in 2017.

Fonacier has a bachelor degree in accounting from La Salle College-Bacolod, and a master's degree in business administration from Ateneo de Manila University.

A certified public accountant, she has driven many of the central bank's reforms, including the consolidation of weaker commercial banks through mergers and acquisitions.

DIWA GUINIGUNDO

Guinigundo, 64, is deputy governor for the monetary stability sector and has been at the bank for four decades. He previously served as assistant governor for monetary policy and international operations.

Guinigundo has a master's degree from the London School of Economics and spearheaded the BSP's introduction of the interest rate corridor system in 2016. He initiated the bank's shift in 1999 from a monetary to an inflation-targeting framework, its primary policy mechanism used to manage inflation since 2002.

ANTONIO MONCUPA

Moncupa, 60, is chief executive and vice chairman of mid-sized lender East West Banking Corp.

His more than 30 years in banking has included stints with International Exchange Bank, the United Coconut Planters Bank and the Union Bank of the Philippines.

Moncupa holds a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago. He was among the leading candidates for BSP governor when the post was last open in 2017.

AURELIO MONTINOLA

Montinola, 67, served as president and CEO of Bank of the Philippine Islands, the country's oldest lender, from 2005 to 2013, where he is now a board director.

He is also chairman of Manila's Far Eastern University and holds a management engineering degree from Ateneo de Manila University and a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.

NESTOR TAN

Tan, 61, is president and CEO of BDO Unibank Inc, the country's largest bank by assets, and president of the Bankers Association of the Philippines.

Prior to joining BDO, Tan was chief operating officer of the Financial Institutions Services Group of BZW, the investment banking unit of Barclays Group.

In a nearly four-decade career, Tan has worked at Mellon Bank (now BNY Mellon) in Pittsburgh, Bankers Trust Company (now Deutsche Bank) in New York, and Barclays Group in New York and London.

He has a bachelor's degree from De La Salle University and a master's degree in business administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

(Reporting by Karen Lema and Neil Jerome Morales; editing by Darren Schuettler)

By Karen Lema and Neil Jerome Morales