DESPITE the ongoing review of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) Act, the board of directors of the government-owned company that will manage the sovereign wealth fund will be named next month.
Assuming the review will be finished “in two weeks’ time,” by November, “I think we will have a complete board and head of Maharlika,” Budget secretary Amenah Pangandaman said.
“By December, they can conduct their first organizational meeting… and by January, it will be full blast,” she added.
In a memorandum dated Oct. 12, 2023, signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin by authority of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Bureau of the Treasury, Land Bank of the Philippines, and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) were directed to suspend the implementation of the IRR of Republic Act 11954 or the MIF Act, pending further study.
The IRR, which would spell the beginning of MIF’s operationalization, was released in August.
On Oct. 19, Marcos clarified that the MIF was not put on hold and that the government is “still committed to having it operational by the end of the year.”
Finance secretary Benjamin Diokno, the chief architect of the MIF, has repeatedly said the sovereign wealth fund will be fully operational by the end of 2023, meaning that the Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC) Board has already conducted its first meeting to plan its investment activities.
The Finance chief also said that the MIC is expected to begin its investment activities in the first quarter of 2024 after it secured initial capital from Landbank, DBP, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Marcos signed the Maharlika Investment Fund Act of 2023 in July, with the aim of tapping state assets for investment ventures to generate additional public funds.
The law creates the MIC, a government-owned company that will manage the MIF — a pool of funds sourced from state-run financial institutions that will be invested in high-impact projects, real estate, and financial instruments.
The MIC’s board of directors would be composed of the Finance secretary, who will serve as the ex-officio chairperson; the presidents of Landbank and DBP; two regular directors; and three independent directors from the private sector.
Pangandaman said the review of the MIF’s IRR is undergoing “finalization” and “we will present it to the President soon.”
The Treasury had earlier said the Advisory Body had submitted its shortlist of candidates for the MIC’s Board of Directors to the OP.
Pangandaman is part of the MIF’s Advisory Body, along with the Secretary of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Treasurer of the Philippines. (GMA Integrated News)
