The board of directors of the government-owned company that will manage the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) will be named next month, even though the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the sovereign wealth fund have been put on hold pending a review.
On Friday, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said assuming the IRR review could be finished in two weeks, a complete board and head of the Maharlika Investment Corp. could be announced soon.
After that, Pangandaman said, the first organizational meeting could happen in December and full-blast operations might begin in January 2024.
President Marcos signed the Maharlika Investment Fund Act of 2023 in July, with the aim of tapping state assets for investment ventures to generate additional public funds.
The law creates the MIC, a government-owned company that will manage the MIF—a pool of funds from state-run financial institutions that will be invested in high-impact projects, real estate, and financial instruments.
The MIC’s nine-member board of directors will be composed of the Finance secretary, who will serve as the ex-officio chairperson; the presidents of Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP); two regular directors appointed by the President for a term of three years; and three independent directors from the private sector appointed by the President for a term of one year.
Pangandaman said the review of the MIF’s IRR was nearly complete and they would present them to the President “soon.”
Pangandaman, who is a member of the advisory body of the fund, remained mum on what specific provisions of the IRR would be changed.
“Let’s wait for the review to be completed,” she said in reply to a query from the Manila Standard.
The advisory body is composed of the heads of the Department of Budget and Management, the National Economic and Development Authority and the Bureau of the Treasury.
The advisory body has already transmitted the final list of MIC nominees to the Office of the President.
Earlier, the economic team led by Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said it was closely working with the Office of the President to improve the fund’s IRR.
The President said his office has been in close consultation with the country’s economic managers to determine what improvements can be made to the IRR.
He had suspended the implementation of the IRR on Oct. 12, pending a review.
The MIC will have an initial capitalization of P125 billion. Land Bank and DBP have already transferred their contributions, as the founding government financial institutions, of P50 billion and P25 billion, respectively, to the account of the Bureau of the Treasury. Land Bank deposited their share on Sept. 14 while DBP remitted on Sept. 15.
The remaining P50 billion of MIC’s initial capitalization will come from the national government. One of the sources is dividend remittances of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. BSP has already remitted P31.859 billion for 2023.