SWS: Filipinos split on amount of benefit from Maharlika fund

Filipinos are split on the amount of benefit they may get from the Maharlika Investment Fund, according to the Social Weather Stations survey in March.

According to the SWS poll, 51% expected little or no benefit from the sovereign wealth fund.

This percentage is made up of 37% who see little benefit and 14% who see almost no benefit at all.

Forty-six percent expect much benefit from the MIF: 32% who expect much benefit and 15% who see very much benefit.

The survey found that 20% have at least partial but sufficient knowledge about the MIF.

The poll revealed that 33% have little knowledge about the measure, and 47% said they had almost no knowledge or no knowledge at all.

The SWS poll was conducted from March 26-29, 2023 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults aged 18 years old and above nationwide broken down to 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The sampling error margins are ±2.8% for national percentages, ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

Sovereign wealth

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, the Marcos administration’s chief economic manager, said the MIF —the Philippines’ very first sovereign wealth fund— is expected to be operational before the end of the year.

Diokno in early June expressed optimism that the Maharlika Fund bill, after its approval by Congress, will be signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. before he delivers his second State of the Nation Address on July 24.

Malacañang on Wednesday confirmed that it had received the proposed MIF bill.

Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Cheloy Garafil said the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs had received the proposed measure on Tuesday.

‘As soon as I get it’

Marcos has said he would immediately sign the 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, has said the MIF would be independent from the government.

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

Implementing rules

Once enacted into law, Diokno said, “We're expected to prepare the IRR [implementing rules and regulations]. We're expected to look for people to man the MIC [Maharlika Investment Corporation].”

The MIC, a government-owned company, will manage the sovereign wealth fund, MIF—a pool of funds sourced from state-run financial institutions that will be invested in high-impact projects, real estate, as well as in financial instruments.

The MIF bill states that the Maharlika Fund would be created using:

• P50 billion from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP);
• P25 billion from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP); and
• P50 billion from the National Government.

The contribution from the national government would come from the following sources:

• Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' total declared dividends;
• National government's share of the income of PAGCOR;
• properties, real and personal identified by the DOF-Privatization and Management Office; and
• other sources such as royalties and/or special assessments.

Diokno said that the MIF would have an initial capitalization of P75 billion by the end of the year, which would come from Landbank and DBP. —NB/KG, GMA Integrated News