THE House leadership last night announced it will amend the bill proposing the establishment of a Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) and remove the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Social Security System (SSS) as fund contributors to the proposed sovereign wealth fund amid the flak and fears raised by the measure.
In a hastily called press conference, Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo said House leaders led by Speaker Martin Romualdez met with government economic managers to reassess the Maharlika Fund bill.
“Based on our assessment of the proposed changes put forward by the economic team, we are amending the bill to change the fund sources, removing GSIS and SSS as fund contributors and instead utilize profits of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,” Quimbo said.
Under House Bill No. 6393 authored by Romualdez, the GSIS was originally proposed to provide an initial investment of P125 billion to the MWF while the SSS would provide P50 billion.
Other sources of funds include P50 billion from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and P25 billion from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). The Treasury of the Philippines will provide P25 billion as investment.
Under the bill, the four government financial institutions – which shall be known as the founding GFIs — are mandated to invest equity with a combined total of P250 billion to start up the fund.
The proposed P275 billion MIF, which will be patterned after the sovereign wealth fund of other countries, is envisioned “to maximize the profitability of investible government funds for the benefit of the Filipino people.”
The measure also calls for the creation of the “Maharlika Investment Corporation” (MIC), a government-owned and controlled corporation responsible for the overall governance and management of the MIF.
Quimbo, a senior vice chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, said the discussions on the amendments will be taken up by the panel on Friday.
“It’s good that we held a series of consultations. It validated the concerns raised by some of our countrymen, especially hard-working Filipinos who pay their monthly contributions to the GSIS and SSS,” she said.
The lawmaker reiterated that the purpose of Maharlika Fund “is to become an investment vehicle where existing surplus capital of the government can grow and reap benefits.”
“It’s best to invest whatever excess capital the government will have in projects with high returns,” Quimbo said. “As we tackle the bill, we will put in place safety nets that will be the success of this project.”
SECOND READING
Majority leader Manuel Jose Dalipe told reporters in a chance interview yesterday said that the House leadership intends to approve on second reading the controversial MIF before Congress adjourns its sessions for the holidays despite the opposition raised by lawmakers led by the Makabayan bloc.
“We don’t have a definite timeline but my estimate, probably second reading by this December,” Dalipe said, adding: “In so far as the Committee on Rules is concerned, aabot siya ng second reading ngayong December (It will reach second reading approval this December).”
Congress will go on a month-long Christmas break on December 17.
Dalipe could not say if the measure will be approved on third and final reading this month, saying the leadership is still waiting for specific instructions from Romualdez.
The Makabayan bloc led by Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT) earlier vowed to oppose the measure and question its legality, pointing out that the bill was only discussed last Monday and was immediately approved last Thursday by the committee on banks and financial intermediaries.
DEBATES AND SCRUTINY
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said the measure’s passage should not be fast-tracked and “must pass the furnace of exhaustive legislative debates and searching scrutiny.”
“Fast-tracking for ‘record-breaking’ objectives will be counterproductive as errors and pitfalls are bound to infest a statute which is enacted with ordinate alacrity,” he said.
Lagman said “overwhelming issues beset the Maharlika proposals like its fiscal propriety, economic timeliness, legal constraints, protection of pensioners’ and depositors’ benefits, excessive emoluments and allowances of officials, precipitate investments, tax exemptions, and magnet for corruption.”
“These issues must be totally ventilated not only in the Congress but also in extensive consultations with the affected public and the concerned multi-sectoral groups,” he also said.
On the other hand, the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) expressed strong opposition to the proposed use of SSS funds as part of the initial capital of the MIF.
In a statement, BMP chairman Leody de Guzman said they are not in favor of using SSS funds, which are composed of hard-earned money from employees, among others.
“The funds of SSS came from the blood, sweat, and tears of millions of workers, be it wage earner or self-employed. These are payroll taxes automatically deducted from our salaries,” said De Guzman.
“We are concerned that these funds will be wasted when used for investments of the Maharlika wealth fund. The risk of losses is simply too much,” he added.
More than losing actual funds, De Guzman said the losses could mean more for SSS members because “it brings peril to those relying on SSS, such as pensioned members needing money for their maintenance medicines, workers victimized by calamities, workers’ children needing educational loan, among others.”
Instead of making “speculative” investments, the BMP urged the government to just invest on more certain undertakings, particularly on workers and livelihood.
“Give aid to micro, small, and medium enterprises so that they can provide living wages. Finance the agriculture sector and industrialization of the country, instead,” said De Guzman. — With Gerard Naval
