SPEAKER Martin Romualdez wants President Marcos Jr. to certify as urgent the measure proposing the establishment of a Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) to expedite its passage on third and final reading at the House of Representatives before Congress adjourns for its Christmas break this week.
“If you ask me, why don’t we just certify it as urgent?” Romualdez told a press briefing on Tuesday night in Brussels (Wednesday morning Manila time) where he accompanied the President at the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit.
Romualdez said the passage at the House of the measure seeking to create a sovereign wealth fund “will be a very, very exciting thing” since the President has been invited to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 16 to 20.
The Speaker, who is a first cousin of the President’s, said Davos will be the “perfect place to bring up” the MIF.
Romualdez, however, clarified that it is up to the President if he wants to certify the bill as urgent.
Once the bill is certified as urgent, the House can approve the measure on second and third reading within the same day and dispense with the constitutional provision that no bill shall become a law unless it has passed three readings on separate days, particularly three days in between the second and third readings.
Romualdez said foreigners and finance professionals are very supportive of the House leadership’s move to discuss the MIF bill on the floor: “They are very excited because they say ‘Wow, that’s new! That’s great! You should have (had) them (the fund) a long time ago.’ But it calls for political will, that’s what it seem. When we filed it, hindi ba maraming nagbabatikos pero (many criticized us but) we have the political will because we know as legislators we have an accountability to our constituents, and we will never do anything that in any way betray that trust,” he said.
During his flight to Belgium on Sunday, President Marcos told reporters that the creation of the MIF was his idea, saying the country needs additional investments and creating the MIF is one way to achieve the goal.
Romualdez said more than two-thirds of the 312 members of the House “have already seen the wisdom” and the benefits of the measure and that he expects that around 250 lawmakers will co-author it.
“The majority floor leader (Manuel Jose Dalipe) told me that we had over 220 (co-authors) and I think by the time I get back (to Manila) baka umabot na ng (it may reach) 250. So, there will be over two-thirds of the House who will be co-authoring because there have been exhaustive briefings,” Romualdez said.
As of 1 p.m. Wednesday, the official records in the House showed that the total number of lawmakers who have signified their intention to be co-authors of House Bill (HB) No. 6608 seeking to establish the MIF has reached 246.
Even before the opening of the plenary deliberations on the measure last Monday, several party leaders have already voiced their support for the passage of the bill following the removal of the Social Security System (SSS) and Government Service and Insurance System (GSIS) as mandatory sources of seed money to start the MIF.
Romualdez said having an MIF will also help the government address the power crisis and the country’s agricultural needs.
“We have a lot of other ideas on how to use this fund to actually help power crisis, the agriculture needs of the country and having skill always does matter. And of course, once you see the country actually putting an investment in a certain industry or in a certain project, then you attract others who would have the confidence because when you come up with a capital that is quite high, so it’s almost like a seal of good housekeeping when you see a sovereign fund moving and investing in the sea or in this sector, everyone then will want to come in,” he said.
The Speaker further stressed that the whole purpose of setting up a sovereign wealth fund is to provide the capital and vehicle which can bring further development and benefits to people.
“And as they say, especially when it comes to capital investment, size does matter, you need scale to participate in large projects, whether infrastructure, power even in the agricultural sector, you need, massive, capital,” Romualdez said.
