Senate votes to prohibit GSIS, SSS, etc. from investing in Maharlika

The Senate on Tuesday adopted an amendment in its version of the Maharlika Investment Fund bill to prohibit state pension and insurance funds from investing in the sovereign wealth measure.

Banned from investing in the MIF are the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Social Security System (SSS), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Pag-IBIG Fund, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and the Philippines Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO).

The amendment of Section 12 of Senate Bill 2020 reads, “Provided, that other GFIs and GOCCs may invest into the MIF, subject to their respective investment and risk management strategies, and approval of their respective boards; Provided, further that the government agencies and GOCCS providing for the social security and public health insurance of government employees, private sectors, workers, and employees, and other sectors and subsectors, such as but not limited to the GSIS, SSS, PhilHealth, OWWA, PVAO, and Pag-IBIG, shall be absolutely prohibited whether mandatory of voluntarily to invest in the MIF: Provided, Furthermore, that the Investments from LBP, DBP, and other GFIS shall not exceed 25% of their net worth.”

The prohibition was first proposed by Senator Raffy Tulfo in Section 6 of the capitalization and initial funding.

Senator Pia Cayetano said many senators also proposed a similar amendment not only on the capital funding but also in the other sections such as Section 12.

“The rationale for this as many of our colleague including this representation has manifested on the floor in as much as we truly hope that the fund will be successful, we would like to ensure that the pension fund and aforementioned funds would not be touched to at least preserve this because we have experienced in the past the hard-earned money of our people were lost,” Cayetano said during the Senate session.

Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva and Senator Imee Marcos earlier expressed reservations over the use of pension funds as seed capital of the MIF.

While there’s a push to pass the measure before the adjournment of the session on June 2, Marcos and Senator Francis Escudero said the MIF bill still contained vague provisions and it still has no final form. —NB, GMA Integrated News