Maharlika fund not on hold – Marcos

Says law to be operational within the year

PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. yesterday said the government is eyeing to have the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) Act “operational before the end of the year” as he clarified that he has not suspended the implementation of the law.

“I was a bit alarmed by the news reports early this morning that I read in the newspapers that we have put the Maharlika Fund on hold. Quite the contrary,” the President said in his speech before leaving for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where he will participate in the 2023 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit.

“I would just like to make a comment because one of the important aspects of this trip will be for us to introduce the Maharlika Investment Fund to the rest of the world, more specifically to Middle Eastern countries… The organization of the Maharlika Fund proceeds apace,” he said.

He said Malacañang and economic managers “are just finding ways to make it (MIF) as close to perfect and ideal as possible… We have found more improvements that we can make, specifically to the organizational structure of the Maharlika Fund.”

The Office of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, in a statement released on Wednesday, said “President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. issued a suspension because he wanted to study carefully the IRR (implementing rules and regulations) to ensure that the purpose of the fund will be realized for the country’s development with safeguards in place for transparency and accountability.”

Republic Act 11954, or the Maharlika Investment Fund Act, was signed into law in July. It paves the way for the pooling of funds from government financial institutions such as the Landbank (P50 billion) and Development Bank of the Philippines (P25 billion) to form the MIF which will be invested in high-impact projects especially on infrastructure, among others.

The IRR, which was released in August this year, spells out the guidelines on the management of the MIF and the operations of the Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC) that will oversee the funds.

The law is targeted for implementation within the year.

The President said improvements being done on the