MANILA, Philippines — Senator Risa Hontiveros was “pleasantly surprised” on Tuesday after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said that he has reservations about the reengineered version of the Maharlika Investment Fund.
Earlier, Congressman Joey Salceda discussed a reengineered fund wherein the source of funding shifted less from government financial institutions to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).
READ: Maharlika Investment Fund Version 3.0?
Marcos, in a panel interview, said that he is lukewarm about the idea as it appears to not be viable.
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“Pleasantly surprised ako na sinabi ni presidente na ‘oo nga, this is not workable’ or ‘we don’t accept that yet,’ which was precisely my point na bago pa man may colleague ako sa Senado na nag-file ng bill na iyan and it turns out it’s not yet with the so-called reengineering. Eksaktong ‘yung version na inaprubahan ng House,” Hontiveros said on ANC Headstart.
(I was pleasantly surprised that the President said that “this is not workable” or “we don’t accept that yet,” which was precisely my point even before a colleague in the Senate filed a bill, and it turns out it’s not yet with the so-called reengineering. The exact version that the House approved.)
READ: House passes Maharlika Investment Fund bill
Senator Mark Villar recently filed the upper chamber’s version of the Maharlika Investment Fund.
The Philippine delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland presented the proposed sovereign fund, which Hontiveros said was “still a very rough draft.”
“So, ang kumabagang soft launch niya sa Davos was really premature and I’m afraid — kasi there was nothing yet to present, they jumped the gun on this — I’m afraid it made the President look amateur,” she said.
The Maharlika Investment Fund is among the Senate’s top legislative agenda this year.
READ: Maharlika fund ‘soft launch’ at WEF ‘premature,’ can make Marcos look ‘amateur’ – Hontiveros