ManilaTimes-Dec 16
THE House of Representatives on Thursday approved on third reading a proposed law creating the $2-billion Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), which has been certified as urgent by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. The Senate must pass a counterpart bill for the measure to become law. Under House Bill (HB) 6608, the MIF will have the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and LandBank of the Philippines (Landbank) initially providing a total of P75 billion. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) profits, which the bill’s authors estimate at P35 billion this year, will make up the balance. The total is far smaller than an earlier version of the bill that envisioned a P275-billion fund, mostly capitalized by the Social Security System (SSS) and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). The House abandoned that version in the face of public opposition. Business groups, opposition leaders and other critics had warned the fund could deplete worker pensions and stoke corruption through reckless investment decisions. In a letter to House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Marcos said the fund would be “a strategic mechanism for strengthening the investment activities of top performing government financial institutions, and thus pump-prime economic growth and social development.” Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno had requested the President to certify the bill creating the MIF as urgent. In a letter dated December 13, Diokno told the President the measure will shore up the government’s effort to create jobs, promote trade and investments, strengthen connectivity, expand infrastructure, and achieve energy and food security. To maximize investment returns, the MIF should be an independent entity, professionally managed and administered by the Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC), he said. Read more at: https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/12/16/news/house-passes-2b-wealth-fund-bill/1870472
