Recto: No investments, employees yet for Maharlika fund
Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Ralph Recto on Wednesday, August 14 said that the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) has not yet ventured into any investments and has only spent “very minimal” funds.
Recto, who serves as the chairperson of the Maharlika Investment Corp. and administrator of the MIF, pointed this out during the Development Budget Coordination Committee briefing at the Senate.
The MIF also still doesn’t have any employees, according to Recto.
Even though no funds have been earmarked in the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP) for the country’s first ever sovereign fund, the Landbank and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has already transmitted a total of P75 billion to the MIF.
“Yes, P75 billion was given to Maharlika. That P75 billion is invested in the Treasury. The interest expense that it earns is their operating expenses, but they will not be able to utilize all that interest that they will earn,” Recto said, responding to a query by Sen. Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance.
“How much has it spent? Very minimal,” he further said.
Recto said even he, as chairman of the MIC, is not earning anything from Maharlika. The Land Bank president, and the DBP president are also not earning anything from the sovereign fund.
“It's the private sector representatives who will be paid, eventually. But as of today... They've not been paid a single centavo as well,” the finance chief said.
And since there is no funds earmarked for Maharlika under next year’s budget, “it is taking time to identify investments that the Makarlika can make,” Recto said.
“As you know, it is like a start up. We just passed the law last year so they have been in operation for six or seven months right now,” he pointed out.
“We're determining the pay packages to be given to the employees of the Maharlika and they're scouting for investments,” Recto said.
It can be recalled that the MIF was President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s pet measure in 2023. Congress had rushed to pass the measure into law despite facing backlash from the public.