MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Mark Villar, who billed himself during the election campaign as someone who works quietly, has brought the bill to create the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund to the Senate.
The House of Representatives passed the bill on third and final reading in December and government officials promoted the fund at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland last week but Villar's Senate Bill No. 1670 has yet to be approved or even posted on the Senate website.
Related Stories
The bill, filed January 12, is an identical copy of the House's third reading version and does not contain the "reengineering" that Rep. Joey Salceda (Albay) of the Ways and Means Committee mentioned over ABS-CBN News Channel on Friday.
As it stands, the Maharlika fund bill in the Senate still proposes to use P50 billion from the Land Bank of the Philippines, P25 billion from the Development Bank of the Philippines and dividends from government financial institutions, including the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, as seed money.
LOOK: The controversial bill creating the Maharlika fund reaches the Senate through Sen. Mark Villar. It is an exact copy of the version passed by the House of Representatives in December and does not contain the “reengineering” mentioned by Rep. Joey Salceda | via @XaveGregorio pic.twitter.com/dIUwNmNwcL
— Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) January 23, 2023
Like the House, Villar’s version also prohibits government corporations providing social security such as the Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System and Home Development Mutual Fund from contributing to the Maharlika fund.
Under the version that Salceda said was rewritten by him and three other people he refused to name, dividends from the BSP would no longer be used for capitalization of the Maharlika fund.
Salceda also said that among the changes that were being pushed was for the Maharlika fund to only involve the securitization of around P44.33 billion in annual dividends from government corporations.
Senate to consider Salceda revisions
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said Saturday over DWIZ that senators will be studying Salceda’s new proposals to the bill, which the House lawmaker previously said has undergone at least seven revisions before it was passed by the lower chamber just 17 days after it was filed.
“We will see if his proposals are sound, will his proposals make it a better piece of legislation,” Zubiri said.
He added that the Senate might finish committee deliberations on the bill before it goes on a six-week break beginning March 25 and then pass it in plenary on the first or second week of May.
Speaking over ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III appealed to his fellow senators, especially members of the majority, not to rush legislating the Maharlika fund as it potentially has "intergenerational effects."
But with President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.’s backing of the bill, Zubiri said it would be hard to for the Senate — which has a minority bloc of just two people — not to be put on notice.
"If the president touches this, it would not be good if we snub him," Zubiri said in Filipino. "His intentions are good, the intentions of this measure are good."
--