With the Maharlika Investment Fund just waiting for the signature of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to be created under a newly railroaded law, the Filipino people can no longer do anything about it, and the advice of Senator Francis Escudero is for critics and proponents to monitor the progress of the sovereign wealth fund.
“Those who are dissatisfied, continue monitoring the progress of the MIF; those who agreed to it, they said they would closely monitor its progress and asked that critics give it a chance,” Escudero said in an interview over the weekend.
The MIF is presently considered an enrolled bill, so unless the President vetoes it and sends it back to the Senate, it will be signed into law.
Escudero admitted at being surprised at the swift passage of the MIF at the Senate past 2 a.m. last Wednesday, following marathon deliberations that began Tuesday. He said he went home thinking they would come in the next day to vote.
A total of 19 senators voted to approve it. Sen. Risa Hontiveros voted against it, while Sen. Nancy Binay abstained. Escudero, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, and the President’s eldest sister Sen. Imee Marcos were not in the plenary during the vote to pass the bill.
The Maharlika Investment Fund has practically passed into law, as the only person who could veto it at this point happens to be one of its biggest cheerleaders, if not the ringleader, Sen. Escudero is right that the best thing for Filipino people can do, whether critics or supporters, is to closely monitor the progress of the upcoming sovereign wealth fund of a country that doesn’t have surplus funds, because by definition, those are funds that our country could use for more important matters but our leaders have chosen to prioritize an investment fund.
A happy ending for the Maharlika Investment Fund would be it achieving its goals that enables it to contribute to the development of the country, therefore silencing critics and proving our leaders who railroaded it right. However, on the flip side is that investment funds, by definition, do not always provide the intended returns, which would be disastrous for a nation’s non-surplus funds. We can only hope that the fund managers of this new instrument in an old game where winning is not a guarantee, but more of maximizing gains and minimizing losses. A people that stays vigilant on how the fund is managed will force its stewards ensure the best possible returns for the nation’s supposedly surplus funds.*
