A retired international investment banker has sounded the alarm on the absence of clear guidelines in the bill creating the Maharlika Investment Fund, which is awaiting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s signature.
Former banker Stephen Cuunjieng told One News that one of the big issues about the fund is the lack of directions on where to invest the money and in what proportion.
“The whole problem is we have a big policy, which is this, we don’t have clear guidelines,” CuUnjieng said in his interview. “The guidelines will come from the management and the board and right now, we have no idea who the managers will be.”
“Basically they’re saying with the P75 billion we’re giving you, bahala ka,” he explained.
The danger here is an immediate loss.
“We’re just going to put it in short term money-market instruments until we find the investments. What if they start buying stocks anywhere? And what if the stocks go down, what happens?,” he added.
The government will be funding the MIF, which will have an authorized capital of P500 billion.
Under the bill approved by both houses of Congress, the MIF will be managed by the Maharlika Investment Corporation (MIC), which is mandated to “establish a diversified portfolio of investments in the local and global financial markets and in other assets that promote the objectives of the Fund.”
The LandBank of the Philippines will contribute P50 billion to the MIF, P25 billion will be sourced from the Development Bank of the Philippines, while another P50 billion will come from the national government.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will also be required to remit all of its dividends to the MIF for the first two years of the fund’s existence.