House adopts Senate version of Maharlika fund bill

The House of Representatives on Wednesday night adopted the Senate version of the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill that seeks to establish a sovereign wealth fund by tapping state assets.

The House's action came after an earlier announcement by Senator Mark Villar's office that Manila Representative Irwin Tieng, one of the members of the House contingent in the bicameral conference committee, agreed to the Senate version of the bill.

“In behalf of the Congress (House) panel, we accept the Senate version in principle, subject to style,” Tieng said in a video provided by Villar's office, the principal author of the measure in the Senate.

The Senate earlier amended its version by prohibiting  state pension and insurance funds from investing in the MIF, a provision which is already provided under the House version approved on third and final reading last December.

The state-run corporations in charge of pension and related funds include 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).

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Wednesday guaranteed that the national government has no intention of using state pension funds as “seed fund” for the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).

In an interview with reporters, Marcos, however, said pension funds themselves could invest in the proposed sovereign wealth fund if they think it is "good investment."

"Of course, ah no, I agree. We have no intention of using… kukuha tayo ng pera ng pension fund," he said.

"We will not use it as a seed fund. However, if a pension fund, which is what pension funds do, is they invest. If the pension fund decides that Maharlika fund is a good investment, it's up to them if they want to invest in it," he added.

House ways and means panel chairperson Joey Salceda, another member of the House contingent, said the bill can still be improved.

“As promised, the MIF will not touch the funds of the SSS, GSIS, PhilHealth, or HDMF. We are thankful for the Senate for retaining most of the accountability and transparency safeguards established by the House. To refine the implementation, I raised some points during our pre-bicameral conference meeting that I hope can be addressed by the Executive,” he said.

“First, I suggested that we allow multilateral financing institutions like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to be strategic partners with a stake in the founding of the MIF. These banks bring in not only capital, but also experience, institutional expertise, and international credibility to the Fund,” he added.

Salceda also said that there is a need to clarify the extent of coverage by the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

“While the Senate version provides for compensation rules, we can clarify in the IRR (implementing rules and regulations) how the CSC will regulate MIF employees,” he added.

Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers in the House insisted that MIF is a scheme to scam public funds.

House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro, House Assistant Minority Leader Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan party-list Representative Raoul Manuel said there is no valid reason to centralize state resources for investment under the direct supervision and effectively discretion of the President.

Castro said, in the first place, the President should ensure that the proposed national budget every year, subject to approval of Congress, will be enough  to cover the needs of the nation.

“Congress won’t be able to scrutinize this MIF fund,” she said in a press conference.

“This is bypassing the oversight power of the House and the Senate,” she added.

Brosas said seed funding for the MIF should come from billionaires, not state assets funded by people’s money.

“If they really want to bet on this, why not get it from the country’s billionaires? Why can’t the government impose more taxes on these people? Why must we people fund this and concentrate control of the MIF resources under the Board of Directors also appointed by the President?” Brosas said.

“The use of those [MIF] resources will be under the President. What does that mean for the Filipino people?” she added.

Manuel said the MIF is a huge gamble with state resources that is doomed to fail.

“Malaking sugal ito ng Malacañang gamit ang pondo ng mamamayan (This is the Palace making a huge bet using public funds.). The people are tired of such scams such as the promise of bringing down the price of rice to P20 per kilo. Such kind of scamming should stop now,” he added.

For his part, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III explained his absence during the voting on the MIF bill early Wednesday morning.  

"Of course, I would’ve voted no all the way because I delivered my turno en contra speech against the measure. Had the bicam [report] be presented today, Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros and this representation would also have objected and voted no because the grounds that we have used as our arguments -- no surplus, no windfall profit, difficult economic situation, danger to corruption are still present up to this very moment," Pimentel said during the plenary session.

"My vote on the Maharlika Bill is 'no' all the way."  —with Sundy Locus/AOL/VBL, GMA Integrated News