Zubiri: No order from Marcos to hasten passage of Maharlika fund

There's no instruction from President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. for the Senate to fast-track the passage Maharlika Wealth Fund bill, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said on Monday.

The lawmaker thus said as he disclosed that he discussed the proposal to create a sovereign wealth fund with Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez two Sundays ago.

"In fairness to the president, he never instructed me to hasten the proceedings on this issue," Zubiri said.

He said he promised a caucus where senators would discuss the measure.

On Monday, Marcos spoke about the MWF for the first time, saying it would be advantageous for the Philippines.

Marcos said he would let the legislative branch do its job in fine-tuning the MWF bill.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, the president's comment on the MWF was a signal for the lawmakers to back the proposal.

"Ibig sabihin no'n nananawagan na siya sa mga supporters niya to support the concept but study in very well," Pimentel said.

He said he believed Marcos was backing "the concept of the sovereign wealth fund, but not the details."

"Ang sabi niya, let the legislators do its work. Tama 'yon. We have to do our work and part of our work is to question whether we need this at this time," Pimentel said.

The bill creating the MWF was sponsored in the House plenary on Monday.

Zubiri did not discount the possibility that the bill will be certified as urgent by the executive branch.

"Eventually, they'll probably come out with the certification but sabi ko nga wag na natin madaliin to. Kailangan natin pag-usapan nang maayos," Zubiri said.

(Eventually, they'll probably come out with the certification but as U said, let's not rush this. We have to discuss this properlt.)

Zubiri said there was still no counterpart measure in the Senate as the general sentiment among the senators was to wait for the final version of the bill from the House of Representatives.

He said Marcos understood that the proposal would undergo rigorous discussion in the Senate being a former senator.

"Naintindihan naman niya kasi senador din siya dati. He knows. Ang sabi ko sa kanya 'Mr. President, alam mo naman dito ang debate hindi sa committee, 'yung debate nasa plenaryo,'" Zubiri said.

(He understands because he was once a senator. He knows. I told him, 'Mr. President, you know that the debate isn't in the committee. It's in the plenary.)

During the discussions with Marcos and Romualdez, Zubiri said he mentioned that the senators were concerned about the use of the pension funds as a capital source for MWF.

After raising this, Zubiri said the proponents of the bill in the House of Representatives decided to remove the pension funds as a funding source.

"It's a step [in] the right direction but nevertheless we want to see the safeguards. We want to see if COA can actually access the reports para at least meron tayong transparency," Zubiri said. —NB, GMA Integrated News