Marcos on Maharlika bill: I’ll sign it as soon as I get it

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Thursday said he will immediately sign the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill into law once it reaches his office, noting that management will be the key to its success.

“I will sign it as soon as I get it,” Marcos told reporters.

Marcos, who had certified the MIF bill as urgent, also stressed that the MIF, once established through law, will be independent from the government.

"The key to the success of any fund, hedge funds, pension funds, sovereign fund, investment fund is the management,” he said.

"Even I proposed to the House was to remove the President as part of the Board, to remove the central bank chairman, to remove the Department of Finance, because it has to operate as an independent fund, well-managed professionally,” Marcos added.

The President further said decisions in relation to this fund should not be linked to politics.

"One of the elements that makes that happen is that there is a very clear independence from the day-to-day government function. Those decisions are not made by political decisions in government, the decisions made for the fund are made by finance professionals," he said.

On Wednesday, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said he has signed the final copy of the MIF bill at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, where he is currently conducting an official visit to meet members of the United States Congress and government agencies.

The Senate version of the bill, which was eventually adopted by the House of Representatives, included two sections on the prescriptive period.

The draft bill passed on the Senate floor provides a 10-year prescriptive period for crimes punishable under the measure, while another section in the same bill provides for a 20-year prescriptive period.

Several senators, including Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Senator Francis Escudero, and Senator Risa Hontiveros, assert that the bill should be sent back to the Senate plenary in order for lawmakers to fix the bill.

Asked how the Senate addressed the double provisions on the prescriptive period, Zubiri said: “I believe the corrections were thoroughly discussed by the majority bloc in our Viber group, including the correction sent by Senator Mark Villar.”

The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives, meanwhile, "condemned" Zubiri's signing of the MIF bill, taking issue of the discussions made in a Viber group.

"How can this be? Last time we checked, the Constitution does not allow legislation by Viber," they said on Wednesday.

The Senate approved the MIF bill on third and final reading on May 31, 2023. The MIF seeks the creation of a sovereign wealth fund that the government can use to make investments.

A total of 19 senators voted in favor of the bill.

Among the major amendments introduced to the measure was the absolute prohibition of the use of funds of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Social Security System (SSS), Philippine Health Insurance (PhilHealth) Corporation, Pag-IBIG, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Philippines Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO)  in the capitalization and investments in the Maharlika fund.

Under the measure, an oversight panel composed of seven members each from the two chambers of Congress will be formed to oversee, monitor, and evaluate the implementation of the proposed law.

Marcos, during Thursday's interview, allayed concerns against the bill, saying that the safety of pension funds was ensured in the adopted version of the measure.

"I think most of the changes that were proposed and that were eventually adopted really had to do with the safety and the security of people’s pension funds, doon nag-alala ang tao," he said. 

But according to Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, Marcos should veto the bill since there is "high chance" that it is unconstitutional.

“The enrolled bill being sent to him is not the version properly and formally approved by Congress. Meron provision po dyan na ginalaw (There is a provision there that was changed) without plenary authority. Malaking tsansa na unconstitutional ang Maharlika Law (There’s a high chance that Maharlika Law is unconstitutional),” Pimentel said in a statement. —KBK, GMA Integrated News