SENATE minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III yesterday urged the Senate leadership not to rush plenary discussions on the bill proposing the establishment of the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), which he reiterated has plenty of “contestable” provisions.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri last week assured President Marcos Jr. the upper chamber will hasten plenary debates on the Maharlika bill and promised the measure will be approved on second and final reading, subjected to bicameral conference committee reconcilitation and ratified this week so it can be transmitted to Malacañang before June 2 when Congress goes on sine die adjournment.
Zubiri said interpellations on the measure will resume today, after which the period of amendments will immediately follow. After that, Congress literally has three more days left, or from Monday to Wednesday, before it adjourns for a seven-week break. The two chambers normally do not hold sessions on Thursdays and do not have sessions and work on Fridays.
The President last week certified Senate Bill No. 2020 as urgent and asked the Senate to pass it as soon as possible.
The House of Representatives has approved its version of the proposed legislation last December before Congress took a break for the holidays.
Pimentel complained plenary discussion on the proposed sovereign wealth fund is being rushed by the President’s allies in the Senate, a move which he described as “very, very wrong” since “the flaws on it (proposal) will affect future generations.”
The Senate minority leader said Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which has been the “gold standard” of similar funds, took about 12 years to be enacted as its proponents consulted all stakeholders and subjected it to exhaustive review before it was approved.
“Hindi ko naman sinasabing 12 years din tayo, pero huwag namang 12 days or kahit 12 weeks. Masyado naman nating minamadali ang isang bagay na karapat-dapat na pag-usapan nang mabuti
(I am not saying that we should also do it in 12 years. What I’m saying is that we should not pass it in 12 days or even 12 weeks. We are rushing a thing that should be discussed thoroughly),” Pimentel told radio dzBB.
Pimentel said if majority of the senators toe the line and adjust to Zubiri’s timeline, proposed amendments to improve the measure will not be tackled thoroughly and included in the final Senate version, thereby exposing the measure not only to abuse and misuse, but even legal questions.
“So, ano ang kalidad ng amendments natin na makikita kung masyadong minamadali? ‘Yan ang problema na hindi ko maintindihan. Meron kaming three sessions days. Tapos mamadaliin doon. Eh ano ‘yan? So, supposed to be investment corporation ang ginagawa natin. Ano ang diprensiya ng three weeks, one month, three months na pag-isipan ‘yan?
Bakit kailangan madaliin? Ang daming konseptong involved. Ang daming perang ginagalaw.
Ginagalaw ang pera ng Land Bank. Ginagalaw ang pera ng DBP na ginagamit na rin dapat nila (So, what will be the quality of the amendments that we expect if they will rush the passage of the proposed MIF? That’s the problem that I cannot understand. We just have three more session days. Then we will rush it? Will it make a difference if we study it thoroughly in three weeks, one month, or three months? Why do we have to rush it now?
There are so many concepts involved, so many monies involved. They will involve money from the Landbank (Land Bank of the Philippines), money from the DBP [Development Bank of the Philippines] that they should have been using instead),” he said.
He said funds from the Landbank should be for the use of farmers, fisherfolks, and for the development of the countryside, while DBP deposits are intended for micro-small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
MINORITY
Pimentel urged the Senate leadership to allow the 2-member minority bloc to propound all their questions, insisting that Senate Rules allow mandate that each member should be given enough time to explain or bring out concerns on all issues discussed in plenary.
“Ang nangyari gusto kasi ng President tapusin natin ito bago mag break, kailangan mabanggit sa SONA (State of the Nation Address). Eh bakit? Ang kinabukasan ng ating bansa, ano? Ilalagay natin sa peligro para lamang mabanggit sa isang SONA? Medyo wrong argument po ‘yan (The President wants it to be finished before we go on a sine die break because it has to be mentioned in the SONA. But why? So, what will happen to our country’s future? We will put it in danger just so the measure will be mentioned in the SONA? That’s a wrong argument),” he said.
OVERTIME
Senate majority leader Joel Villanueva said they expect extended debates on the MIF bill today, noting that several senators have “so many reservations” and are scrutinizing the provisions of the proposed legislation.
“I’m also expecting to work double time. Siguro uumagahin kami sa Tuesday or sa Monday.
Hindi natin alam (Maybe we will work until the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday or Monday, we really don’t know yet),” Villanueva said in an interview in Bocaue, Bulacan where he led the distribution of financial assistance to displaced workers.
Villanueva said they will hold an all-senators meeting before today’s session at 3 p.m. and discuss if there is a need to hold a special session on Thursday to pass the proposed MIF.
“There’s also a possibility na magdire-derecho kami, hindi na mag-a-adjourn, isu-suspend na lang. Dire-derecho ang questioning because there’s a timeline (There’s a possibility that we will hold continuous sessions, we will not adjourn, but only suspend. The debates will be continuing because there’s a timeline). So at the end of the day, the Senate, , and based on history, we will do our part. We will continue to scrutinize. Nothing has changed,” he said.
In reaction to Pimentel’s statement on the debates being rushed, Villanueva pointed out it took the Committee on Banks some three months to discuss the measure before it was sponsored in plenary.
“I don’t know with Sen. Pimentel. He’s our minority leader, he is our chief fiscalizer. We respect his views and the views of the minority and the members of the opposition. As I mentioned even right now as we speak, we’re still debating on the measure,” he said.
CHARTER AMENDMENTS
Pimentel said if the MIF bill allows the use of Landbank and DBP funds as seed money, it will take away from the respective board members the power to decide where their deposits and earnings should be placed, a scenario that require an amendment in the franchises of the two state-run bank.
Members of the board of the two banks have the flexibility to decide on where and how to spend their funds.
Pimentel also questioned a provision in the proposed MIF bill allowing the Maharlika Investment Corporation, the corporation which will be created to manage the MIF funds, to sell government assets to attract both private and foreign investors.
Pimentel said this only shows that the government does not have a “surplus or (a) windfall” in its national budget, which was the initial purpose why the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund was proposed.
He said the biggest problem of the MIF is that it was not well-thought of, and that amendments to the original House proposal were not thoroughly discussed, thus exposing the legality of the sovereign wealth fund bill to questions before the Supreme Court.
“Yan ang problema. Ang umpisa sovereign wealth fund ang pinag-uusapan. Eh lumalabas na walang tayong surplus or windfall profit kaya sabi ay kumuha tayo ng foreign investors.
So, mahirap na tawaging sovereign wealth fund ang isang fund na nandoon din ang private sector. Ang masama pa niyan may foreigner na private sector. So, paano mo matatawag na sovereign wealth fund yan? (That’s the problem because at the start we were talking of sovereign wealth fund. But it turned out that we do not have surplus or windfall profit, that is why they suggested that we get foreign investors. It cannot be described as a sovereign wealth fund since it now involves the private sector. Worse, it will also have foreign private sectors. So, how can we call it a sovereign wealth fund?)” Pimentel asked.
Pimentel said that even Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who is a member of the majority, has said that he needs more time to study the proposed MIF since it will also involve getting seed money from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Gatchalian has earlier written a letter to Sen. Mark Villar, chairman of the Committee on Bank, Financial Institutions, and Currencies, and asked for the outright exclusion of the BSP as a funding source for the MIF, saying “we will be exposing our financial system to uncertainties.”
Gatchalian said that to allow the use of BSP declared dividends in the MIF capitalization would be against RA 11211 or the New Central Bank Act which was passed during the 18th Congress.
Under that law, Congress has approved the increase in capitalization of the BSP from P50 billion to P200 billion to ensure its financial strength given the growth of the banking industry through the years.
Using BSP funds, he added, will result in “lesser funds to take full action against inflationary pressures which entail huge costs on the financial markets and can result to output loss and unemployment and eventually affecting the public’s perception on the track record of the BSP in anchoring inflation expectations.”
Pimentel said he is also against the proposal to allow the nine-member MIC Board to decide on big ticket infrastructure projects which should be the role of Congress.
He likewise noted that the MIC Board of Directors will be allowed to hold closed-doors meetings, which he said is contrary to the transparency principle of the government.
