Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday, January 22 said he is open to having discussions on the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) that the current administration has already formally launched before global investors during President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s participation in the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

But as far as he is concerned, Gatchalian said questions regarding the possible source of the funds should be the center of discussion among members of the Senate once the Upper Chamber formally tackles the measure in a committee hearing.

As of the moment, no senator has yet filed a counterpart measure on House Bill No. 6608, though Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri said he expects Sen. Mark Villar, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks to file his own version of the measure.

“The need of our country is really big when it comes to funds. Now as to the timing, my biggest concern is more where to get the funds? Because if we have resources, let's say we have a surplus, then we can solve the timing when it comes,” Gatchalian said in Filipino in an interview on Radio DZBB.

“But if you don't have resources, timing will be an issue because we have many needs,” he pointed out.

While having a sovereign wealth fund may work wonders for the country’s economy, the Senate ways and means committee chairman said state economic managers should consider the threat of recession all over the world especially in the West, in the United States and Europe.

“The beauty of us is that I see our economy is strong even though there is such a threat, even though inflation is high, at 8 percent, our economy has grown and our economy will grow,” the senator said.

“Last year, the projection was 6-6.5 percent, this is projected...so that means our economy is resilient because there are many things. First of all, our population is young, we are a consumption economy, so we are growing,” he explained.

“But still, when we look at our budget, there is really a struggle for funds to build the school: P400-million had to come out during our hearing last time, just for the school to build all the classroom requirements,”

“So that's what we need just to fulfill all our classroom requirements. It has not yet been reduced from three shifts to two shifts; two shifts to one shift. So the need of our country is really big when it comes to funds,” he reiterated.

Asked if he is amenable to the House’s new version of the MIF, which dropped the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in favor of an initial public offering, Gatchalian said he would have to check the feasibility of such proposal.

“I thought that the IPO of the proposals is to fix the governance structure, meaning that it is not only the government that is inside (MIF) but also the private sector, meaning that you have a check and balance, government and the private sector that will manage and provide regulation or oversight with the funds,” he pointed out.

However, the proponents of the MIF, he noted did not explain whether it would be purely an IPO or if there would be what they call a secondary offering. Nevertheless, having it in an IPO to improve the governance structure of the MIF may ensure a “check and balance” in the use of the funds.

“Because if it's all government, who will check the government? When it's private who will also check (them)? So there is a healthy balance. That's the proposal,” he said.

But then again, Gatchalian said, the source of the funds for the proposed MIF is still the main question.

“But we will go back to the original, where the funds will be taken from. No matter what government structure we put in there, if there are insufficient funds, the Sovereign Wealth Fund that we think of as the Sovereign Wealth Fund may not be effective either,” he warned.

“But anyway, it's good to talk about it so that these details come out and we know what the benefits are to our country,” the lawmaker stressed.