Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Thursday said there was “no sinister move to tamper” with the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill.
“There was never a plan to tamper. There was no sinister move to tamper the measure. There’s no tampering that took place,” he said.
Zubiri said the measure will be transmitted to the Palace next week, likely before the meeting of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council on Wednesday.
He said House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez will sign the measure on Monday.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, however, claimed a “sneaky tampering” transpired.
“What they did with Maharlika is not usual. They changed the wording, amounting to changing the substance. Behind closed doors,” Pimentel said.
Zubiri said they “just reflected the true intention of the provisions as reflected on the transcript of records.”
“The enrolled bill that I signed in Washington DC is the truthful reflection of the intent of the members of Congress. A true reflection of the transcript of records,” he added.
The Senate version of the bill, which was eventually adopted by the House of Representatives, included two sections on the prescriptive period.
The draft bill passed on the Senate floor provides a 10-year prescriptive period for crimes punishable under the measure, while another section provides for a 20-year prescriptive period.
Zubiri said this has already been fixed by merging the two sections and retaining the 10-year period for prescription.
“There was no malice or ill intent to tamper as they are saying,” he said.
Earlier, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the Marcos administration is open to striking joint ventures with the country’s richest Filipinos once the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) becomes operational.
“We’re hopeful. We can also do some joint ventures with our conglomerates, co-investments on infrastructure projects,” De Leon said.
She assured the public that the soon-to-be-formed Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC) would properly evaluate each investment.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier the Palace would scrutinize the revisions in the MIF bill but promised to sign the measure as soon as he gets it.
De Leon said the MIC board of directors would craft investment and risk management strategies where the public could see the possible returns of the projects.
“It will go through a very rigorous screening process – what will be the returns and risks. There are also risk mitigating measures that would be identified to ensure that we can monitor and at the same time adjust all those risks,” she said.
“It will still pass through a procurement process. So, with that alone, we can see that it will be assessed thoroughly and that the investment we will venture into complies with the investment strategy that would be approved by the board,” she added.
Social security institutions such as the GSIS, SSS, Pag-IBIG, and PhilHealth are prohibited from investing in the MIF and the corporation.
In addition, no funding for social development projects, such as services, health care, and education, would be tapped for the MIF.
“An external auditor would be hired to also look into the operations and financial performance of the MIF,” De Leon said.
Seven members each from the Senate and House of Representatives would be assigned to the Joint Oversight Committee to monitor the viability and the financial performance of the MIC and the MIF, she said. — Macon Ramos-Araneta
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