Marcos: Maharlika fund implemented this year
(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday made it clear he is bent on implementing the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), and that earlier reports of its suspension was just him and his economic managers «finding ways to make it as close to perfect and ideal as possible.»
Marcos made the clarification after admitting he was «alarmed by the news reports» that his suspension order may have been interpreted «somehow as a judgment of the rightness or wrongness of the Maharlika Fund.»
«What I have done though, is that we have found more improvements we can make, specifically to the organizational structure of the Maharlika fund, the concept of the Maharlika fund as a sovereign fund, an investment fund, the concept remains a good one and we are still committed to having it operational by the end of the year,» the President told reporters before leaving for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Gulf Cooperation Council (Asean-GCC) Summit.
«So, we should not misinterpret what we have done as somehow as a judgment of the rightness or wrongness of the Maharlika fund. On the contrary, we are just finding ways to make it as close to perfect and ideal as possible, and that is what we have done,» he said.
He added he «has been in consultation, not only with the economic managers, but also with the people, the personalities who will actually be involved with the fund» and that their inputs would be utilized to make the MIF have «a better organization.»
The President is likely to present the MIF to prominent officials and business leaders in the Middle East.
As envisioned in Republic Act 11954, the MIF will be used to infuse capital in a wide range of assets, including foreign currencies, fixed-income instruments, domestic and foreign corporate bonds, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and high-impact infrastructure projects.
«And with that in mind, we are encouraged by the reaction of our friends in the Middle East, and for that matter, around the world, to the Fund, and we are very encouraged that we are going down the right path,» Marcos said.
