President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. vowed to sign the controversial Maharlika Fund bill “as soon as I get it,” allaying fears that the proposed sovereign wealth fund could potentially bankrupt pensioners’ fund.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (File Photo/MANILA BULLETIN)
“I will sign it as soon as I get it. Am I happy? Well, that is the version the House and the Senate has passed and we will certainly look into all of the changes that have been made,” he said during a media interview on Thursday, June 22.
An enrolled copy of the bills was signed by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Wednesday, June 21, and is currently awaiting the signature of House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the bill’s proponent and first cousin of the President.
The Senate website said an enrolled bill is the final copy of the proposed measure, which has been certified as correct by the Secretary of the Senate and the Secretary General of the House of Representatives.
After Romualdez’s signature, the bill would be sent to Marcos for signing. The Maharlika Bill was certified as urgent by the Chief Executive.
The signing of the controversial bill was delayed a few weeks since it hurdled the Senate on May 31 because of conflicts in the Sections 50 and 51 of the Congress-approved version.
Marcos expressed confidence that the final version of the bill addressed most of the concerns of pensioners, sharing that he wants the fund to be “independent” and “well-managed.”
He said that the first thing he had proposed was the removal of the president as part of the Maharlika board, the central bank chairman, and the Department of Finance (DOF).
Assuaging fears from the public, the President said that a well-managed fund would benefit the country and its people.
“Perhaps we are looking in the wrong direction. The key to the success of any fund, hedge fund, pension fund, sovereign fund, investment fund is the management,” he said, adding that corruption will certainly persist if corrupt people are put there in power.
“But the only way that the fund doesn’t get into trouble is that it’s well and professionally managed. And so one of the elements that makes that happen is that there is a very clear independence from the day-to-day government function. Those decisions are not made by political decisions in government. The decisions made for the fund are made by finance professionals,” Marcos explained.