President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. assured that the government has no intention to use the state pension funds as "seed fund" for the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).
He made the assurance after the controversial bill was passed on the third and final reading in Senate.
"We have no intention of using...... na kukuha tayo ng pera ng pension fund. We will not use it as seed fund [for the Maharlika Investment Fund]," Marcos told reporters in an interview on the sidelines of Government Service Insurance System's (GSIS) 86th anniversary in Pasay City.
“However, a pension fund, which is what pension funds do, is they invest. If the pension fund decides the Maharlika Investment Fund is a good investment, it’s up to them if they want to invest in it,” he added.
Meanwhile, GSIS President Wick Veloso said that they will wait for the decision of lawmakers if the agency will be among the MIF's source of capitalization.
"As of now there's nothing firm on that, and still under discussion. But during the discussion, our role is only as a fund manager. Ang mga pension funds katulad ng GSIS ay hindi na kasama. Kaya hindi natin alam kung ano pang mga diskusyon ang mangyayari sa mga bagay na ‘yan," he told reporters in a separate interview.
"Iisa lang ho ang gagawin natin, kung ano ho ang desisyon ng atin pong mga mambabatas, sapagkat sila po’y nakikinig sa ating taumbayan. Iyon po ang susundin natin, kami po ay nakapatnubay lang kung ano ang ibibigay na direksyon sa amin," he added.
In the final version of the Senate Bill No. 2020, lawmakers prohibits the government from sourcing capitalization from GSIS, Social Security System (SSS), Philippine Health Insurance (PhilHealth) corporation, Pag-IBIG, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Philippines Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) for the MIF.
But the state can pool additional capitalization from private and state-owned financial institutions and corporations if approved by the Maharlika Investments Corporation (MIC) board of directors, based on the Section 12 of the proposed bill.
