The controversial R.A. 11954 or more popularly know as the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) a.k.a. the Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF) have been signed into by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. The signing was made with fellow lawmakers at Malacañang Palace Tuesday morning, 18th July 2023.
via PNA;
In a keynote speech, Marcos said the MIF is designed to drive economic development in the country.
“The MIF is a bold step towards our country’s meaningful economic transformation. Just as we are recovering from the adverse effects of the pandemic, we are now ready to enter a new age of sustainable progress, robust stability and broad-based empowerment,” Marcos said.
“We now have an available fund that will provide us the seed money for investments and to attract other foreign investments and for us to be able to participate in those operations, in those investments without additional borrowings,” he added.
Following the signing of RA 11954, Marcos said his administration would “go out to the world and do the changes that are necessary for the Philippines to become an investment-friendly nation.”
“The fund will fail if we do not make money on the fund. It’s that simple… That is why we put up a Maharlika Fund so as to be able to give us the capacity and the ability to join in those investments, be part of that,” he said.
The gist of Maharlika Investment Fund (R.A. 11954) is that the fund will be used to invest in assets to provide the government with a long-term source of income, as well as ease the burden on the national budget by providing additional funding for other priority projects of the government. The law will establish the Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC), which will act as the “sole vehicle for the purpose of mobilizing and utilizing the MIF for investments in transactions in order to generate optimal returns on investments (ROIs).”
The MIF is expected to have at least PHP75 billion in paid-up capital this year, source of the funds will be PHP50 billion from the Land Bank of the Philippines and PHP25 billion from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
The law prohibits government agencies and GOCCs that provide for social security and public health insurance to contribute to and invest in the Fund. These agencies includes the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, Home Development Mutual Fund, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, and Philippine Veterans Affairs Office pension fund.
The law mandates the Commission on Audit to conduct a special audit of the MIC’s books and accounts every five years. All MIF and MIC documents will also be open, available, and accessible to the public, as may be allowed by law, in both English and Filipino.
The MIF is envisioned to provide funding for the Marcos administration’s initiatives to sustain robust economic growth without the disadvantage of having to impose new taxes or incur more foreign debts. (2/3)
— House of Representatives of the Philippines (@HouseofRepsPH) July 18, 2023
