Don't look now, but the proposed Philippine sovereign wealth fund being pursued by the House of Representatives has once again undergone a name change.
According to Manila 5th district Rep. Irwin Tieng, the erstwhile Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF) has been reverted back to being called the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).
Tieng chairs the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries, the mother committee of the controversial Maharlika fund bill.
"The name of the fund went back to the original name, Maharlika Investment Fund, Maharlika Investment Corporation," Tieng told House reporters Monday morning, Dec. 12 following a meeting of the panel that was carried out via executive session.
An executive session is closed to members of the media..
The sovereign wealth fund was initially filed in the current 19th Congress last Nov. 28 as the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund or MIF. It was designated as House Bill (HB) No.6398.
On Dec. 1, the Tieng panel, during technical working group (TWG) discussions, agreed to rename the MIF to MWF. The Manila solon noted that there was also an "MIF" in Singapore and that using the same name would cause confusion.
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One of the authors of the measure, Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte 1st district Rep. Sandro Marcos has always preferred to call the sovereign wealth fund as MIF even after this development.
The current version of the bill being that's being handled by the banks and financial intermediaries committee is an unnumbered bill that was based from HB No.6398.
The belief is that the House of Representatives wills try to have the bill approved on second reading in the plenary this week, just before the start of the lawmakers' holiday break.