The proposed Philippine sovereign wealth fund has been a constantly evolving piece of legislation.

On Monday morning, Dec. 12, Manila 5th district Rep. Irwin Tieng shared the latest set of amendments to the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), which his panel, the Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries, approved in an executive session that same day.

Foremost among these changes---aside from the obvious name change--is the inclusion of penal provisions on the currently unnumbered MIF bill.

"Naglagay ng penal provision. Ibig sabihin nun, kapag may ginawa kang mali or may ginawa kang iligal, kulong ka, may fine ka. Naglagay din sila ng provision wherein the corporation cannot manage another corporation (A penal provision was added. That means you'll get jailed and fined if you do something wrong or something illegal. Also added was a provision wherein the corporation cannot manage another corporation)," Tieng told House reporters.

He said Committee on Ways and Means chairman, Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda inserted penal provisions saying that any director, trustee, or officer who willfully or maliciously violates investment guidelines set by the board of directors as defined pursuant section 19 of this Act or whose acts of gross negligence, willful misconduct, fraud, actions in breach of any investment agreement, and in a loss suffered by the fund shall be liable for all damages resulting therefrom suffered by the corporation.

It will be the board of directors that will manage the Maharlika Investment Corporation (MIC), previously the Maharlika Wealth Fund Corporation (MWFC)

"Stockholders or members and other persons shall be punished by imprisonment of not less than one year but not more than five years, or a fine of not less than P50,000 but not more than P2 million, or both at the discretion of the court," Tieng said.

It was earlier reported that the Department of Finance (DOF) secretary--and no longer the Philippine President--will sit as chairman of the MIC board.

"Nawala na rin iyong seven-year fixed term ng chairman of the board ng (The seven-year fixed term of the chairman of the board was also removed)," bared the Manila congressman.

Tieng also indirectly acknowledged the shrunken capital of the MIF, which reached as high as P275 billion in earlier committee discussions. There is currently no fixed amount as far as seed money for the MIF is concerned.

"Diyan natin makikita ang galing ng professional managers na ipapasok sa MIC (That will serve as a test to just how good the MIC professional managers are). You have to make the fund grow for us," he said.

He said Committee on Appropriations Senior Vice Chairperson and Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo has also included in the measure a social welfare provision, which says that 20 percent of the MIF's income will go to social services.

"I cannot say ayuda pero doon na rin pupunta ‘yun. I think it’s something na dapat tingnan sa IRR (implementing rules and regulations). Pero ako, gusto ko ganun, diretso sa subsidy sa tao (I cannot say it's for government assistance, but that's where it will go. I think it's something we should look at in the IRR. But for me, I prefer that, to send the subsidy directly to the people)," Tieng said.

He also said that there are now also 90 co-authors to the bill. There are six main authors. He said.