The Philippine delegation to the 31st Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum has promoted the newly created Maharlika Investment Corp., which will manage the Maharlika Investment Fund, to their fellow legislators during the three-day regional conference that ended Saturday, Speaker Martin Romualdez said.
“On the sidelines, we have mentioned that we have passed and enacted the law regarding the Maharlika Investment Corp.,” Romualdez told reporters Saturday night after delivering the closing remarks at the forum.
The Speaker co-chaired the annual meeting, which the Philippine Congress hosted, with Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri.
The local lawmakers were also hosting their visiting counterparts in a farewell dinner Sunday night, with some of them going to tourist hotspot Tagaytay City along with Senator Francis Tolentino, the city’s former mayor.
“They can see that we can be proud of our beautiful country, and our vibrant economy,” Romualdez said.
“They see this along with our vibrant democracy, the freedom of our press, and the freedom of expression we enjoy, and thus they can see that we are a great investment center and a haven for all the sovereign wealth funds around the world, so the future of our own sovereign wealth fund is bright,” the Speaker said.
Last week, President Marcos had sworn into office Rafael Consing Jr. as the first president and chief executive officer of Maharlika Investment Corp.
The Palace said that Consing, as MIC president and CEO for three years, “will ensure that MIC continues to make significant contributions to the nation’s long-term economic prosperity.”
“Consing is an accomplished, results-driven, and multi-awarded C-level executive with a profound depth of experience in corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, global capital markets, stakeholder relations, and business strategy development,” the Palace said in a statement.
In his talks with his regional peers, Romualdez said many of them have expressed the desire to visit the Philippines again.
“They were all pleased, and many of them want to come back. If you want to come back, it means you are happy with what you’ve seen and experienced. That’s why what the President (Marcos) and I have been saying is correct, ‘the Filipino people are the best,” he said.
“The hospitality, the respect (we show our guests), the accommodations, they could all see our preparation was top-notch. The arrangements were seamless, and our people were working overtime to perform. The guests were really surprised how complete we were with everything, from our education, arts, industry, we have it all,” the Leyte solon added.
The Speaker also reiterated the President’s foreign policy mantra: “A friend to all and an enemy to none,” as he expressed confidence that many Asia-Pacific nations would support the Philippines’ campaign for a seat in the United Nations Security Council.