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Malacañang has 10 days to ink MIF
By Nidz Godino
PET bill of administration Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) has been transmitted to Malacañang for President Ferdinand Marcos' signature.
Measure creating controversial in text message, Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil said copy of enrolled bill was received by Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs last Tuesday.
Garafil said no date has been set for signing of measure since legal affairs office is still conducting complete staff work.
Economic managers have been pushing for signing of MIF bill before FMJ's second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 24, according to Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman.
Under 1987 Constitution, the President has 30 days to sign or veto measure sent to his office. If the President does not act on bill within 30 days, it lapses into law.
Last month, FMJ said he would sign MIF bill into law as soon as he gets it. He has also allayed concerns over perceived risks of investment fund, saying most of proposed changes to measure that were adopted were related to security of pension funds.
Congress passed MIF bill last May. Investment fund will allow government to invest in various outlets like foreign currencies, fixed-income instruments, corporate bonds, commercial real estate and infrastructure projects.
MIF seeks to execute and sustain high-impact infrastructure and development projects, ease fiscal constraints and maximize expected returns for Philippines' investments, according to economic managers.
They said fund is also meant to promote socio-economic development by making strategic and profitable investments in key sectors.
Sectors opposed to measure are worried MIF might end up becoming like 1Malaysia Development Berhad, marred by graft allegations.
Twenty-one economics professors from University of the Philippines have criticized bill, saying it "violates fundamental principles of economics and finance, and poses serious risks to economy and public sector, notwithstanding its proponents' good intentions."
They claimed MIF bill lacked clear focus and does not thresh out nature of financial and economic returns fund expected to generate.
MIF fund is not among 19 priority bills mentioned by FMJ during his first SONA; however, he certified measure as urgent last May, citing for "compelling need for sustainable national investment fund as new growth catalyst to accelerate implementation of strategic and high-impact large infrastructure projects that will stimulate economic activity and development."
Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) approved 20 measures to be prioritized and passed within the year during its second full meeting presided over by FMJ at Malacañang, less than three weeks before his second SONA.
Among these measures are proposed amendments to Build-Operate-Transfer Law or Public-Private Partnership Act, National Disease Prevention Management Authority, Internet Transactions Act/E-Commerce Act, Health Emergency Auxiliary Reinforcement Team or HEART Act (formerly Medical Reserve Corps), Virology Institute of the Philippines Act, Mandatory Reserve Officers' Training Corps and National Service Training Program Act, Revitalizing Salt Industry, Valuation Reform Act, E-Government/E-Governance Act and Ease of Paying Taxes Act.
Also targeted to be passed this year are proposed National Government Rightsizing Program, Unified System of Separation/Retirement and Pension of Military and Other Uniformed Personnel, Local Government Unit Income Classification, Waste-to-Energy Act, New Philippine Passport Act, Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers, National Employment Action Plan, Amendments to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)-endorsed Bank Deposit Secrecy Act and Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA).
Garafil said 18 of 20 bills were part of 42 priority legislative measures during first LEDAC meeting in October last year.
Of 42 bills, three Republic Act 11934, or An Act Requiring the Registration of Subscriber Identity Module; RA 11935, or the Act Postponing Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections; and RA 11939, or Act on Amendment to Armed Forces of the Philippines' Fixed Term had been signed into law.
Garafil said three proposed measures House Bill 6608, or Maharlika Investment Fund Act; HB 7751, or Department of Health Specialty Centers Act and HB 6336, or New Agrarian Emancipation Act are up for the President's signature.
Other priority measures include proposed Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act, National Land Use Act, Enabling Law for Natural Gas Industry, Apprenticeship Law, Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System, Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery or GUIDE, Free Legal Assistance for Police and Soldiers, Negros Island Region, Leyte Ecological Industrial Zone, Eastern Visayas Development Authority, Philippine Immigration Act, Comprehensive Infrastructure Development Master Plan and Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers.
Five bills are in various stages of legislative process: Budget Modernization Bill, Amendments to Electric Power Industry Reform Act, Department of Water Resources, National Defense Act and Amendments to Universal Health Care Act.
Speaker Martin Romualdez said of remaining 36 priority measures from first LEDAC, they have passed 32 measures on third and final reading in House of Representatives.
On top of SONA priority bills, several legislative measures are also being proposed for inclusion in common legislative agenda (CLA).
CLA is list of priority legislative measures of executive and legislative branches of government, council has agreed to actively pursue to be passed in Congress.
In separate interview, Pangandaman said they agreed to pass 18 priority bills by December.
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