Philippine economic managers back bill creating Maharlika Wealth Fund

MANILA  – Philippine economic officials have thrown their support behind the creation of a sovereign wealth fund backed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr amid opposition from some groups due to concerns over the risk of corruption and transparency.

The economic managers “strongly support” the proposed sovereign wealth fund to generate additional income for the government, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno told a media briefing, as he called for the speedy passage of the bill creating the fund.

The bill, whose principal authors in the House of Representatives include Marcos’ son and cousin, has drawn strong opposition from business groups and ordinary citizens after it originally proposed to source part of the initially planned $4.9 billion seed money from state-run pension funds.

Authors of the bill have agreed to remove that proposed provision, which they said will be reflected in a revised version of the measure.