Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda (Rep. Salceda's office)

The Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) will be a way to keep in the country "trillions" worth of money from local corporations that would otherwise be used outside the Philippines.

Thus, said Albay City 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda Tuesday morning, July 18 mere hours before President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos’ scheduled signing of the landmark MIF in Malacañang.

"Based on my analysis of the top 1,000 corporations in the country alone, from year 2000, some P13 trillion in funds have been issued in dividends outside the country or used to pay foreign debt instruments," noted the economist-congressman.

“I see Maharlika as a way to keep that money in," he said.

Salceda was the chairman of the technical working group (TWG) that drafted the House version of the proposed Philippine sovereign wealth fund, as well as one of its principal defenders in both the House floor and the bicameral panel.

“We have close to P19 trillion in investible funds in the Philippine banking system. That needs to go somewhere productive in order to contribute to the economy. The Maharlika Investment Fund is a vehicle to do that – for both the Landbank and the DBP (Development Bank of the Philippines), as well as for other banks,” he said.

“We also have some of the largest conglomerates in Southeast Asia, and they are cash cows. Our total corporate sector generated P9.03 trillion in 2023. They have a gross saving of P5.7 trillion. So, basically, they don’t have anywhere to put 63% of all the money our corporations make,” Salceda added.

"Unless we create a vehicle for investable projects, chances are, that’s going to be released in dividends outside the country or used to pay foreign corporate debt, rather than develop our domestic sectors," he further said.

The chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means says undertaking big projects in the Philippines tends to be difficult due to all the "attached issues", which include bureaucracy, social acceptance, land use and tenure, among others. "They increase the risk of investment and can deter these investors.”

One of the difficulties with undertaking big projects in the Philippines is navigating all the

“With MIF, investors can outsource those issues to a government-owned company, instead of doing all that on their own. That makes the job easier and the investment less risky," he explained.