Senate Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Senator Sherwin Gatchalian wants to know the economic managers' basis for supporting the controversial Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF).
Gatchalian had this to say Saturday, Dec. 10 in a DWIZ interview following reports that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s economic team is fully backing the proposed Philippine sovereign wealth fund.
"Hindi ko lang alam kung ano ang usapan sa kanila, pero kung suportado nila yan ang pinakamaganda diyan ipadala sa amin ang kanilang basis (I don't know what what they discussed, but if they support it then the best thing that could happen is for them to show us their basis)," he said.
"Ipadala sa amin ang kanilang pag-aaral at ipadala ang kanilang investment outlook (Send to us their study and their investment outlook)," added Gatchalian.
What's important according to the lawmaker is to ensure that the MWF, once invested, would reap bigger profits compared to Treasury Bills (T-Bills) or ordinary deposits.
Gatchalian reckoned that whatever information the economic managers know that points to the potential success of the MWF, the senators should also know.
"So meron silang alam na hindi namin alam, for example, meron silang mga high-yielding investment o meron silang investment scenario na mas malaki. Mas maganda kung maipadala nila sa atin yun (So they know something that we don't, for example, they have high-yielding investment or they have an even bigger investment scenario. It would be better if they can send that to us)," he said.
The proposed MWF, the institutionalization of which is primarily being pursued by the House of Representatives, involves the use of investible funds from government financial institutions (GFIs) by the Philippine government.
The current form of the MWF measure in the House taps the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) as fund sources.