The Maharlika Investment Fund will have extensive effects and ramifications not only to our generation but potentially to future generations of Filipinos.
‘’Hence this should not be rushed. Haste makes waste,’’ Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said on Friday, December 16 stressing the need for a thorough discussion by senators.
The House of Representatives passed the bill on third and final reading yesterday. It will now be transmitted to the Senate.
President Marcos has certified the bill as urgent.
"We have to make sure that the Maharlika Fund bill will be thoroughly discussed in the senate. We have to examine everything in the said bill. Even the commas, semicolons; and periods," Pimentel said.
He said that superficially, a certification of urgency of necessity would really give the impression that we need to "speed up things."
"I hope this will not be the feeling in the Senate," he pointed out.
"Now that the Maharlika Investment Fund bill has been certified urgent by the President and has passed in the House of Representatives, we in the Senate will definitely be studying this measure during the session break to prepare for hearings and debates when we resume sessions next month," he added.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva reiterated that he is in support of the idea of establishing a sovereign investment fund.
Villanueva stressed that there is a need for further discussions in the Senate to ensure that the fund would be managed properly with transparency and accountability
"We also need to pinpoint and clarify the investment objectives and strategies for the fund so that it will be well spent for the betterment of the Filipino people," he added.