What the President wanted, he got — in record time.
The House of Representatives did not disappoint President Bongbong Marcos' request to fast-track the contentious, multibillion-peso Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) as it formally passed, on third and final reading, House Bill 6608 Thursday night, 15 December, just before Congress went into Christmas recess.
It took only 17 days for the bill to pass. It will then be transmitted to the Senate for deliberations and final approval, before Marcos' formal signing into law.
Voting in favor of the bill were 279 lawmakers, while six in the minority — Camarines Sur Rep. Gabriel Bordado, Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman, Makabayan bloc's Gabriela Women's Party Arlene Brosas, ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel, and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman — opposed the measure.
Extensive floor deliberations on the bill, including nearly three hours of interpellation conducted by Lagman on 14 December, resulted in the fine-tuning of its provisions, which critics acknowledged resulted in a "much better and improved version."
House Speaker Martin Romualdez, one of the principal authors of the MIF — which Marcos himself admitted initiating — said the amendments introduced to the measure, especially the inclusion of more safeguards against possible abuse and fraud, is the chamber's way of addressing the concerns of the Filipino people.
The swift passage of the MIF came after the President wrote a letter to Romualdez on 14 December to certify its "urgency."
"The proposed sovereign wealth fund will help President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. keep the country on the high-growth path. We want to assure the public that the management of the fund will follow best practices and the principles of transparency and accountability," said Romualdez.
The legislation, which has been heavily criticized since it was filed on 28 November by House leaders allied with the President, was amended in response to widespread criticism.
The participation of the Government Service Insurance System and the Social Security System was withdrawn.
Marcos was removed chair of the board and replaced by Finance Sec. Ben Diokno. There were penal provisions, among other revisions.
