Cayetano: GSIS, SSS, other GOCC direct investment in infra dev’t safer and better than Maharlika fund

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano (right). Contributed photo

MANILA, Philippines — Since the planned Maharlika Investment Fund has been met with pushback due to perceived risk and issues around the recommended financial sources, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano is pushing for establishing an infrastructure investment fund instead.

At the Commission on Appointments (CA) hearing on December 13, Cayetano proposed to National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan that the government, with the help of the private sector, start an investment fund that will commit capital towards government infrastructure projects.

A less hazardous option, he suggested, compared to the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund, which in its earlier versions called for capital to be sourced from the Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), and Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-Ibig.

He pointed to infrastructure projects like skyways and highways that have been making money for their investors as ones that government can enter into. “So far wala pa akong nakikitang nalugi sa mga projects na y’un,” he said.

“Instead of getting money from SSS, GSIS, and Pag-IBIG, why not have a platform for Juan dela Cruz where they can invest in these projects and get a board seat? With that, you have the same result as the Maharlika Wealth Fund with safeguards,” Cayetano said.

READ: Marcos says Maharlika fund creation his idea

According to House Bill No. 6398 or the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund Act, one of the objectives of the fund is to establish a diversified portfolio of investments in the local and global financial markets and in other assets.

The CA minority leader pointed out that an infrastructure investment fund’s social and economic returns will be immediate for the regions for which it will provide capital.

READ: Maharlika Bill breezes through House in 17 days

“We might not be able to equalize ‘yung sweldo, resources, investments across all areas of the country, but let’s just try to create more opportunities for Filipinos,” he added.

Balisacan agreed that an infrastructure investment fund could open up more opportunities for low-income Filipinos to break into the capital markets and grow their wealth.

READ: Lawmaker says goal of Maharlika fund ‘laudable’ but timing is off

“I think what the Senator just described is very much in the spirit of my advocacy to open up more investment opportunities for low income households. We need to open up avenues for investments,” the ad interim economic planning secretary said.

Cayetano said much of the criticism lodged against the Maharlika Investment Fund had been driven by sentimentality, as millions of low- and middle-income Filipinos have paid into the SSS, GSIS, and Pag-Ibig social safety nets for years.

READ: No urgency to pass Maharlika fund bill: People already in deep debt don’t need it – lawmaker

He said it would be difficult for most citizens to agree to have their savings put into a sovereign wealth fund.

“When it comes to the stock market and to funds, importante yung sentiment at saka ngayon na maraming bullish pero marami rin pong negative sentiments on this (Maharlika wealth fund), maraming nagdududa kung ano talaga ang intentions dito kahit maganda,” Cayetano said.