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Friday, March 29, 2024

House okays wealth fund bill

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Final version garners 279 votes after Mr. Marcos certifies it as ‘urgent’

The House of Representatives on Thursday night approved the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill, which had earned the solid support of 90 percent or 282 out of the 312 members of the chamber who were officially named as co-authors of the measure.

MAHARLIKA APPLAUSE. Speaker Martin Romualdez applauds members of the House of Representatives who, in a plenary session, approved on third and final reading House Bill 6608 or the Maharlika Investment Fund bill on Thursday, after it was certified as urgent by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. earlier in the day. Ver Noveno

Voting 279 against six, the House approved House Bill (HB) 6608 on third and final reading, after it was certified as urgent by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Exhaustive floor deliberations on the measure—including nearly three hours of interpellation conducted Wednesday night by Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman—led to the fine-tuning of the provisions, which even former critics acknowledged to have resulted in a “much better and improved version” of the bill.

Speaker Martin G. Romualdez, the principal author of the bill, said the amendments introduced to the measure, especially the inclusion of more safeguards against possible abuse and fraud, “is our way of addressing the concerns of our people.”

“The proposed sovereign wealth fund will help President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. keep the country on the high-growth path. We want to assure the public that the management of the fund will follow best practices and the principles of transparency and accountability,” he said.

Romualdez said the bill, as finalized, would insulate the MIF from political influence.

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As revised, the proposed law lists the Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp. (Pagcor), and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as MIF contributors.

Their initial contributions are P50 billion for Land Bank, P25 billion for and 100 percent of dividends the BSP will give the national government. Pagcor’s share will be 10 percent of gross gaming revenues.

Upon the Speaker’s instruction, the House earlier removed the Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System, which are pension funds for the private sector and government workers, from the list of contributors due to concerns raised by their members.

The bill creates the Maharlika Investment Fund Corp., which will have a board of directors that would manage the fund. The board will be chaired by the secretary of finance, with the corporation’s chief executive officer, Land Bank president, DBP president, seven members to be nominated by MIF contributors commensurate with their contributions, and four independent directors.

The number of independent directors on the board was increased from two to four to widen private sector representation. These directors should have no conflict of interest in relation to the fund.

Operational expenses of the corporation shall not exceed 2 percent of the funds managed.

The MIF Corp. would have an advisory body composed of the secretary of the Department of Budget and Management, director general of the National Economic and Development Authority, and the National Treasurer.

The body’s tasks include advising and assisting the board of directors in formulating general policies on investment and risk management.

The corporation would have an internal and an external auditor, aside from being subjected to examination by the Commission on Audit.

The bill lists “allowable investments,” like foreign currencies, metals, fixed-income instruments, domestic and foreign corporate bonds, equities, real estate, infrastructure projects, loans and guarantees, and joint ventures or co-investments.

The measure prescribes a graduated scheme of fines as penalty for various offenses such as internal auditor collusion, acting as intermediaries for graft and corrupt practices and engaging in graft and corrupt acts, ranging from P80,000 to P5 million.

Violations of any of the other provisions of the law or its amendments not otherwise specifically penalized therein shall be punished with imprisonment of not less than 6 years, but not more than 20 years, and by a fine of not less than P1 million to P3 million but not more than twice the value of the monetary instrument or property involved in the offense.

The proposed law mandates the National Treasurer, in consultation with the founding government financial institutions, to issue implementing rules and regulations.

Earlier, President Marcos certified the bill as urgent, paving the way for its swift approval on third and final reading that same evening in the House of Representatives.

The President’s message was read during the House’s plenary session, shortly after lawmakers approved the bill on second reading on a voice vote. The certification allows Congress to approve the bill on second and third reading on the same day.

Earlier, the Department of Finance (DOF) asked the President to certify the bill as urgent, documents obtained by reporters show.

In a letter dated Dec. 13, 2022, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said he wanted to speed up deliberations on the bill to create the country’s own sovereign wealth fund (SWF).

Diokno said 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, Diokno said MIF should be an independent entity, professionally managed and administered by the Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC).

“The MIF and the MIC comply with the ‘Santiago’ Principles, which pertain to the set of generally accepted principles and practices endorsed by the International Forum of SWF members,” Diokno said.

Diokno added that MIF will be subject to strict investment and risk management guidelines, and is authorized to invest only in financial instruments and development projects approved by its board of directors.

“Investments in real estate, infrastructure, and other development projects, however, shall be limited to National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board-approved major capital projects to ensure that these are in line with the socio-economic development program of the government,” Diokno said.

He also emphasized that MIC is barred from holding a controlling stake in its investee companies, and shall not be directly involved in their day-to-day management and operations.

The 15-member MIC board of directors, chaired by the Finance secretary, will ensure that the investment policies formulated are consistent with the objectives of the MIF, and subject to periodic review, Diokno said.

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