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View all search resultsPhilippine lawmakers propose $4.9b sovereign wealth fund
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P
hilippine lawmakers have proposed a US$4.9 billion sovereign wealth fund to be chaired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to boost growth, but critics warn it will be prone to graft and risk Filipino pensions.
Congressmen Sandro Marcos and Martin Romualdez, the president's son and cousin respectively, are among the six authors of the bill filed to the House of Representatives (DPR) and will be examined by several committees before being debated in the house.
The Maharlika Investments Fund (MIF) would be seeded with 275 billion pesos ($4.95 billion) from government financial institutions, including two pension funds and two banks, according to the latest version of the bill.
It would help the Marcos administration achieve its goals of getting the Philippine economy to "soar to greater heights in spite of external shocks," the authors wrote.
The word maharlika, which means royalty, is widely associated with Marcos Jr.'s late dictator father and namesake, who presided over widespread human rights abuses and corruption during his two decades in power. He was ousted in 1986.
Marcos Sr. claimed to have led an anti-Japanese guerrilla unit called Ang Mga Maharlika during World War II, but he has been accused of lying about his war record.
The MIF has been met with concern from business groups, economists, activists and opposition figures, who have questioned the need for a sovereign wealth fund in the debt-laden country.
