Marcos adds measure in priority list
BY WENDELL VIGILIA and RAYMOND AFRICA
CONGRESS resumes sessions today and buckle down to work as President Marcos Jr. approves 11 additional bills, including the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) as part of the priority measures of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), which now totals 42.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said the Senate is eyeing to approve the bill proposing the establishment of the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) during the four-week period before Congress adjourns again sine die on June 2.
In an interview with radio dzBB, Zubiri said plenary deliberations on the proposed sovereign wealth fund bill will start on May 15, which was sponsored on the floor last March 20 by Sen. Mark Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions, and Currencies.
Floor discussions are expected to last for two weeks, according to Zubiri, adding the measure will be passed on third and final reading before the end of the month, while ratification of the reconciled bicameral conference committee version is eyed by June 2.
On the other hand, Speaker Martin Romualdez said the House leadership aims to approve the remaining eight LEDAC bills from the original 31 bills before the sine die adjournment.
“It will be on a best-effort basis. We will try to pass the remaining eight bills from the original priority list. If we could do that, we would have approved all the urgent measures identified by President Marcos in less than a year,” Romualdez said.
Romualdez said the 11 priority bills are “designed to address key issues on public health, job creation, and further stimulate economic growth as part of his administration’s priority legislation (LEDAC).”
Aside from the MIF bill, the Speaker said the 10 other bills approved by the President for inclusion in the priority list are the following: amending the AFP fixed term, which was already transmitted to the President, ease of paying taxes, local government unit income classification, amendments to the Universal Health Care Act which has been sent to the Senate, proposed Bureau of Immigration modernization, infrastructure development plan/Build Build Build Program, proposed Philippine Salt Industry Development Act, proposed Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS), proposed National Employment Action Plan, and amendments to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act, which are already being prepared by a committee technical working group (TWG).
The additional pieces of legislation support the President’s agenda for prosperity and his eight-point socio-economic roadmap.
MAHARLIKA FUND BILL
Zubiri said the Senate has assured the administration that the ratified version of the proposed measure will be ready for the President’s final approval before June 2.
“Committed po kami sa NEDA [National Economic and Development Authority] at Palasyo na maipasa namin before June 2. The majority members will rally together para maipasa natin, but with safeguards (We have committed to NEDA and to the Palace that we will pass the proposed measure before June 2. The majority members will rally together so we can pass it but with safeguards),” Zubiri said.
The Senate leader said he has seen the revised copy of the MIF bill and assured the public that safeguards have been introduced to make sure that the sovereign fund will not be used for any other purpose other than what they are intended for.
He said amendments to the proposed measure were introduced by Senators Francis Escudero, Loren Legarda, and Juan Edgardo Angara, among others.
“We can assure the public na may sapat na safeguards na hindi magagamit itong Maharlika Investment Funds sa katiwalian, hindi magagamit for personal gains, for money laundering.
It will be managed properly by professionals at hindi lamang political appointees. It will be under scrutiny, of course, by the different auditing agencies (We can assure the public that this has enough safeguards so that the Maharlika Investment Funds will not be used in irregularities, cannot be used for personal gains, for money laundering. It will be managed properly by professionals and not just by political appointees. It will also be under scrutiny, of course, by the different auditing agencies),” he added.
Last March 20, Villar sponsored Committee Report No. 58 recommending the approval of Senate Bill No. 2020 or the proposed MIF “as the Philippines first ever sovereign fund designed to catalyze economic development by mobilizing government financial assets that are otherwise limited in use by current legal frameworks.”
Villar said all documents related to the expenditure or use of the MIF would be “open, available, and accessible to the public,” and said an internal auditor will provide interim financial and management reports, with an internationally recognized auditing firm to serve as external auditor to audit the MIF financial statements.
He said the books of the MIF will also be subjected to “strict examination” of the Commission on Audit to allay fears that the funds will be misused.
Villar said that a joint congressional panel will be created with five members each from the Senate and the House of Representatives to oversee, monitor, and evaluate the implementation of the MIF.
Exemptions from privileges were deleted from the original version of the MIF as filed by Villar.
He said initial capitalization will be investible funds of the Land Bank of the Philippines (around 3.7 percent), and the Development Bank of the Philippines (some 3 percent), contributions from the national government, including dividend remittances of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, national government shares in the earnings of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), proceeds from privatization and transfer of assets, and other sources such as royalties and special assessments.
“The involvement of these GFIs (government financial institutions) as contributors to the initial seed fund is reasonable and will not cut out the other lending obligations that they need to fulfill under their respective mandates,” Villar said.
“In fact, the expected return of Maharlika, which is estimated to be around 8.6 percent on average, is much higher than their cost of capital and the return in their current investment placements,” he added.
PRIORITY BILLS
The President listed during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July last year 31 priority measures.
Two of the 31 are now laws that the government is implementing: the SIM (subscriber identify module) Registration Act and the postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), which are now scheduled for October this year.
Another bill, the proposed agrarian reform debts condonation of unpaid loans, interest, and penalties of thousands of agrarian reform beneficiaries, may soon become law after Congress ratified the conference committee report containing the condonation bill before its Holy Week adjournment.
The original eight remaining SONA-LEDAC priority measures which the House leadership is aiming to approve in the homestretch of the first regular session of the 19th Congress are the bill establishing regional specialty hospitals, enabling law for the natural gas industry, National Land Use Act, Department of Water Resources and Services and creation of Water Regulatory Commission, Budget Modernization Act, National Defense Act, amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, and the bill on a unified system of separation, retirement, and pension for uniformed personnel.
Additionally, the House has identified 13 priority measures, including On-Site, In-City Near City Local Government Resettlement Program; Open Access in Data Transmission, mandatory establishment of evacuation centers in every city, province, and municipality; online registration of voters; calling for a constitutional convention to propose constitutional amendments, amendments to the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) Charter, which were also sent to the Senate following third and final reading approval; Estate Tax Amnesty Act Extension, which is for calendaring by the House Committee on Rules, Government Procurement Reform Act, which is under TWG, Department of Disaster Resilience, and Livestock Development and Competitiveness bill, which are under committee deliberations; and the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and the wage employment assistance program for displaced and/or vulnerable workers, which are up for committee deliberations.
The House has so far approved 20 LEDAC-SONA bills from the 31 original LEDAC bills on third and final reading.
These are the Magna Carta of Seafarers, E-Governance Act/ E-Government Act, creation of the Negros Island Region, creation of the Virology Institute of the Philippines, Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act, creation of the National Disease Prevention Management Authority or Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Medical Reserve Corps, the Philippine Passport Act, Internet Transaction Act/ E-Commerce Law, Waste-to-Energy Bill, free legal assistance for police and soldiers, Apprenticeship Act, Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Act, magna carta of barangay health workers, valuation reform, Eastern Visayas Development Authority, Leyte Ecological Industrial Zone, Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery, national citizens service training program, and rightsizing the national government.
In the Senate, Zubiri said he has discussed with majority leader Joel Villanueva the Senate’s priority agenda, which include the proposed Internet Transaction Act, the MIF bill, the creation of the Virology Institute, the establishment of the Center for Disease Control, the mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps training for college students, and the proposed P150 per day across-the-board legislative wage increase nationwide, among others.
Zubiri said the Senate is also preparing to tackle the proposed 2024 National Expenditure Program.
