Maharlika Fund setup expected to be speedy

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno(File photo/Senate PRIB)

The Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) could be up and running within this year, with the bill establishing the MIF expected to be signed into law before the President’s State of the Nation Address in July and the rules of implementation coming out within three months.

The bill provides that the Treasurer of the Philippines, in coordination with the founding GFIs (government financial institutions) of the MIF, shall promulgate the implementing rules and regulations within 90 days since the MIF law had taken effect.

The law shall take effect immediately after publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation in the country.

When asked how long the crafting of the IRR will take, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said it would be “very fast.”

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the Marcos administration’s economic team believes that the version of the MIF bill that Congress approved on May 31 will create a fund that can accelerate investments in high-impact infrastructure and development projects.

“The MIF bill provided the necessary safeguards to maintain transparency, accountability, fund integrity, and robust risk management,” Diokno said.

Earlier, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the MIF was cued to help bankroll the administration’s pipeline of 194 infrastructure flagship projects.

Tagged at a total cost of about P9 trillion, the pipeline consists mostly of projects related to physical connectivity or transportation, water resources (irrigation, water supply, and flood management), digital connectivity, health, power and energy, agriculture, and other infrastructure.

These projects include the Panay Railway Project, Mindanao Railway Project III, North Long Haul Railway, San Mateo Railway, University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital Diliman Project, the Naia or Ninoy Aquino International Airport Rehabilitation Project, Ilocos Sur Transbasin Project, and the Metro Cebu Expressway.

Diokno said that a risk management committee shall identify and weigh the risks associated with potential activities, which would inform decisions on which endeavors the MIF will take on.

De Leon, who is also a Finance Undersecretary, said that when the MIF and the company that manages it—the Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC)—have been established, MIC could approach government agencies to pick which projects may be funded as well as to private-sector partners who might want to provide the funds. INQ