FILE PHOTO: Senator Mark Villar at an organizational meeting of the Senate committee on national defense and security, peace, unification, and reconciliation on August 10, 2022. – Villar has filed Senate Bill No. 1670, calling for the setting up of a Maharlika Investment Fund. (Albert Calvelo/ Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — A measure seeking to set up a Maharlika Investment Fund has been filed in the Senate.
Senator Mark Villar on Monday filed Senate Bill No. 1670 to create the controversial sovereign wealth fund. He said that “this Maharlika Investment Fund bill should be passed for the achievement of the country’s economic goals.”
In the bill, he explained that: “It is the duty of the government to ensure that our country will attain economic transformation, growth, and sustainability. This can be attained by enacting a law that will be a powerful tool for sustaining high-impact infrastructure projects, urban and rural development, agricultural support, and other initiatives to increase income and economic activity in the Philippines.”
Under his proposal, among the sources of seed money for the Maharlika Investment Fund would be the Land Bank of the Philippines, the Development Bank of the Philippines, and the declared dividends of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Villar’s bill further seeks to form a Maharlika Investment Corporation and a Maharlika Investment Fund Joint Congressional Oversight Committee, which will “oversee, monitor, and evaluate the implementation of the proposed measure.”
“The Corporation shall act as a vehicle to mobilize and [utilize] the Fund for investments in transactions that will enable the Fund to reap optimal returns on investments while contributing to the overall goal of reinvigorating job creation and poverty reduction,” the measure’s explanatory note states.
The Maharlika Investment Fund is among the top legislative agenda of the Senate this year, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva previously said.
Last December, the House of Representatives approved on final reading House Bill No. 6608, which calls for the setting up a Maharlika Investment Fund.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier certified the measure as urgent.
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