Even as a House committee endorsed quickly the proposal to set up a Maharlika Sovereign Wealth Fund, three senators have expressed caution in tackling the proposition to avoid the pitfalls of similar funds in other countries.
Minority Senators Koko Pimentel and Risa Hontiveros said that while the avowed purpose of creating such a facility was noteworthy, the painful lessons both in other countries and the Philippines’s own experience warrant a more careful deliberation of the proposal when it reaches the Senate.
The Senate leadership, however, vowed thorough deliberations on the proposal, with Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri assuring that the chairpersons of relevant committees—Finance, Ways and Means, especially—will be actively leading the study of the proposal and will consult stakeholders.
For her part, the President’s sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, also aired caution despite reports that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. endorsed the idea embodied in a bill filed by House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Marcos said while she had not read thoroughly the House bill, any facility that touches retirement funds must be handled with caution.
Among the institutions tapped to provide the P250-billion seed investment for Maharlika are retirement funds—the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Social Security System (SSS).