Ibinunyag ni Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr., na kaniyang tinanggihan ang mga mungkahi na mapabilang sa Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).
Sinabi ng Pangulo na nais niya na ang magpapatakbo sa sovereign wealth fund ay mga competent at independent financial managers ng sa gayon hindi ito mahaluan ng pulitika.
Sinabi ng chief executive na mariin nitong tinutukan ang mga pagdinig at debate ng Kongreso hinggil sa nasabing panukala.
Ngayong araw pormal ng nilagdaan ng Pangulo ang Republic Act (RA) No. 11954, or the Maharlika Investment Fund Act of 2023 sa Palasyo ng Malacañang.
Sabi ng Pangulo hindi siya pabor na ang Pangulo ang magiging chairman ng MIF.
“And immediately I removed… I said I’m not in favor of having in the original iteration, the President was the chairman of the (MIF). Sabi ko, ‘no, you remove us. Then, there was the Secretary of Finance, no. Because inevitably, if you put me or the Secretary of Finance in the decision-making loop, those decisions will be colored by political considerations and that must not be the case,” pahayag ng Pangulong Marcos.
Sa ilalim ng RA 11954 o ang Act Establishing the MIF, ang Secretary of Finance ay ex officio chairperson lamang at hindi magpapatakbo ng Fund. Ito ay pamamahalaan ng siyam na miyembrong Maharlika Investment Corporation (MIC) na pinamumunuan ng isang Independent Director.
Ayon sa Pangulo, ang tanging paraan para magtagumpay ang pondo ay ang palayain ito mula sa panghihimasok sa pulitika, dahil tinitingnan ng gobyerno ang mga potensyal na pamumuhunan at operasyon ng pondo sa isang cold-calculating manner.
“Structurally, we removed the political decisions from the fund and those political decisions are left with the bureaucracy, the political bureaucracy, and the fund is left to be a fund and operating on a sound and proactive financial basis,” wika ng Pang. Marcos.
Sa isang pahayag, sinabi ni Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno na sinasabi lamang ng Pangulo ang kaniyang preference na siya at ang Finance chief ay hindi dapat mamuno sa sovereign investment fund.
“Even at the early stage of the formulation of the sovereign investment fund, the President was clear: he didn’t want to politicize the Fund. He rejected the proposal to make him the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Fund,” pahayag ni Diokno.
