Zubiri: Removing SSS, GSIS from Maharlika seed money ‘step in right direction’
MANILA, Philippines — A major concern of senators appeared to have been allayed by House lawmakers when they removed state pensioners from the seed money to be used to establish the Maharlika Investment Fund, with Senate President Migz Zubiri saying this is a “step in the right direction.”
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Zubiri said he relayed to President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. two weeks ago that the proposal to include money from the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System to set up the Maharlika fund caused “friction” among senators.
But now that SSS and GSIS would no longer form part of Maharlika’s seed money — at least in the current iteration of the bill that has seen many tweaks in the past few days — Zubiri said they still want to see safeguards.
“We want to see if [the Commission on Audit] can actually access I guess the reports, so that we can ensure that there is transparency,” he said.
Marcos has publicly expressed support for the Maharlika fund and admitted that he broached this as he argued that this would be advantageous to the country.
“I wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise,” Marcos told reporters onboard the presidential plane en route to Brussels, Belgium. “It’s very clear we need added investment. This is another way to get that.”
Zubiri said Marcos told them to “seriously consider” the proposal, to which the Senate President supposedly replied with an assurance that they will “go through it like a fine-toothed comb.”
“We will look at the House version and of course, possibly add amendments to assuage the worries of our kababayans that there will be leakage, corruption,” Zubiri said. — Xave Gregorio
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