Marcos says Maharlika Fund IRR finalized

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday that the implementing rules and regulations of the Maharlika Investment Fund Law have been finalized.

“The Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Maharlika Investment Fund have been finalized. Upon approval, we’ll swiftly establish the corporate structure, getting the MIF up and running,” Marcos said.

Marcos made the statement after meeting with several officials from the Presidential Management Staff, Office of the Executive Secretary, Bureau of the Treasury, Government Service Insurance System, and Office of the Presidential Adviser for Investment and Economic Affairs.

On October 12, Marcos suspended the implementation of Republic Act 11954 pending review ”to ensure that the purpose of the fund will be realized for the country’s development with safeguards in place for transparency and accountability,” the OES said.

“We are still committed to having it operational before the end of the year,” Marcos said on October 19. “So we should not misinterpret what we have done as somehow a judgment on the rightness or wrongness of the Maharlika Fund.”

The MIF aims to execute and sustain high-impact infrastructure and development projects, ease fiscal constraints, and maximize expected returns for the country’s investments, according to the Marcos administration’s economic managers.

They said that safeguards have been put in place based on the version passed by Congress, such as the formation of a risk management committee to make sure that adequate steps are taken to achieve a prudent balance between risk and reward in both continuing and new business activity, as well as congressional oversight.

It also bars government-owned and controlled corporations that provide social security and health benefits from investing in the Maharlika Investment Corporation (MIC).

The MIF will have a P500 billion authorized capital stock, P125 billion of which will initially come from investible funds of specific government financial institutions (Landbank: P50 billion; DBP: P25 billion), and the remaining P50 billion will come from contributions from the national government.

The fund will be managed by the MIC, which has a nine-member board chaired by the Secretary of Finance.

A petition challenging the law’s constitutionality was filed by Bayan Muna and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III with the Supreme Court in September.