Pimentel urges Marcos to 'abandon' Maharlika Investment Fund

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Thursday urged President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to drop the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) in its entirety.

Pimentel said that doing so would save Marcos' "political capital."

“Ang conclusion ko, it is best for the Marcos administration to abandon the Maharlika project, save your political capital and let’s not go into a very risky financial venture,” Pimentel said in an ANC interview.

“Abandon the idea, because as they now feel it, it’s a defective concept, it’s a defective law… the proof of economic viability is not there from the start,” he added.

Pimentel emphasized that these kinds of investments should be left with the private sector.

The senate minority chief also refuted Marcos' earlier clarification that the MIF was not on hold despite a memorandum dated October 12,2023 directing the suspension of the enforcement of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the law creating the fund "pending further study."

“It’s a suspension, and when you are suspending something that you're so excited with some few months ago, this means something has gotten wrong with the process, with the preparations, with the planning, or even the understanding of what we have created,” he said.

Pimentel believes that the reason behind the suspension might be a combination of difficulty in crafting the IRR because the law is “already confusing,” there are no willing individuals to lead the Maharlika Investment Corporation, and that the world economic situation has changed.

“It was really in bad shape when we were debating the MIF… and now with the Middle East turbulence there. So an additional reason that maybe investors are not as excited nowadays to invest in other countries,” he said.

“The Maharlika Investment Fund is off to a bad start. It has suffered reputational damage even before it has been marketed and launched,” he added.

Although the President said the MIF concept as a sovereign fund "remains a good one and we are still committed to having it operational by the end of the year,” Pimentel said that Marcos wanted it to be perfect, which will take a long time.

“Notice the words of the President. He wants to perfect something—maybe accountability, processes, proceedings. So if you want to perfect something that would really take time,” he said.

Pimentel also suggested returning the contributions of the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines amid the two state banks’ requests for a regulatory relief.

Marcos signed into law Republic Act No. 11954 or the Maharlika Investment Fund Act of 2023 in July, with the aim of tapping state assets for investment ventures to generate additional public funds.

The law creates the Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC), a government-owned company that will manage the MIF — a pool of funds sourced from state-run financial institutions that will be invested in high-impact projects, real estate, as well as in financial instruments.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, along with Bayan Muna chairman Neri Colmenares and former Bayan Muna Representatives Isagani Zarate and Ferdinand Gaite, in September asked the Supreme Court to declare the MIF Law as unconstitutional.

In their 56-page petition for certiorari and prohibition, the petitioners argued that the MIF Law is unconstitutional due to violation of economic viability, violation of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Independence, and violation of the three-reading rule in the legislative process. —VAL, GMA Integrated News