MANILA – Malacañang has received a copy of the bill establishing the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).
Communication Secretary Cheloy Garafil confirmed in a text message on Wednesday that the proposed measure was transmitted to the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs (ODESLA) on Tuesday.
Garafil said there is no official date yet for the signing of the MIF bill into law.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri earlier said the proposed measure creating the MIF would likely be signed into law by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. by the second or third week of July.
In a media interview on the sidelines of an event in Makati City on June 22, Marcos said he would look into the changes made in the MIF bill before signing it into law to make sure that the national wealth fund would be “well and professionally managed.”
Certified as "urgent" by Marcos, the MIF bill establishes a sovereign wealth fund that will be used to invest in a wide range of assets, including foreign currencies, fixed-income instruments, domestic and foreign corporate bonds, commercial real estate, and infrastructure projects to help promote economic development.
The proposed measure seeks the establishment of 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)."
Under the bill, the MIF will not touch the funds of the Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), or Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund).
Marcos’ economic team earlier said the MIF bill adheres to the fundamental principles of economic policy and financial market participation. (PNA)
