BUREAU of the Treasury (BTr) officer-in-charge (OIC) Sharon Almanza said the Advisory Body of the Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC) and the Office of the President (OP) had yet to identify which provisions of the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) Act’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR) would be revised.
At a weekly news forum in Quezon City over the weekend, Almanza said, “The coordination with the Office of the President is still ongoing, so we will be sitting down with them on the particulars of the improvements.”
Almanza, as the OIC Treasurer, sits in the Advisory Body for the MIC along with the secretaries of Budget and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
The Treasurer made the remarks after the issuance of a memorandum directing the BTr, Land Bank of the Philippines, and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to suspend the implementation of the IRR of Republic Act No. 11954 or the MIF Act, “pending further study.”
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman had said the review of the MIF Act’s IRR would “soon” be completed as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. committed that the sovereign wealth fund would be operational by the end of 2023.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, likewise, said the Department of Finance was in close coordination with the OP to tweak the implementing rules of the MIF law.
On Oct. 19, Marcos clarified that the MIF was not on hold and that the government was still working to have it operational within the year.
As to whether the Advisory Body would have to reopen or extend the deadline for applications for those interested in being part of the MIC Board of Directors, Almanza said, “It depends on what really needs to be refined in the IRR.”
The Treasurer said the Advisory Body had submitted its shortlist of candidates for the MIC’s Board of Directors to the OP.
The MIC Board will be composed of a president and CEO; 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.
Diokno, the chief architect of the MIF, has repeatedly said the sovereign wealth fund would be fully operational by the end of 2023 — meaning that the MIC Board had held its first meeting to plan its investment activities.
The Finance chief had also said the MIC was expected to begin its investment activities in the first quarter of 2024 after it secured an initial capital from Landbank, DBP, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
The suspension of the MIF law’s IRR also came amid the regulatory relief being sought by state-run lenders Landbank and DBP as their respective capital infusions into the sovereign wealth fund could render them non-compliant with the central bank’s minimum capitalization requirements.
Landbank and DBP have already remitted P50 billion and P25 billion, respectively, to the BTr for the initial capital of the MIF. (GMA Integrated News)
