SINCE President Marcos Jr. assumed his coveted post in July 2022, his administration has been noted for three things: the most traveled president in six months, spiraling prices of rice, sugar and onions, and last but not the least, the creation and promotion of Maharlika Investment Fund, earlier bandied as Maharlika Wealth Fund.

Interestingly, PBBM’s initial thrusts in his administration easily showed sharp contrasts in priorities with the past Duterte administration. The former president was known to shun international travels and assigned the tasks mostly to his Foreign Affairs Secretary. Then while the country is frantically grappling with the inexplicable price hikes of basic commodities, the previous administration was focused on providing impetus to increase farmers’ production. And finally, while the Duterte administration conscientiously tried to survive the health and economic onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Marcos administration easily pulls out a “magic” solution to the country’s development growth – The Maharlika Investment Fund.

Through the decades, our country has seen the best and the worst on foreign travel issue of presidents and issues of short supply and spike in prices in agricultural products but the proposed creation of the Maharlika Investment Fund is something our country has never seen nor tried anything minimally close to it. At best, any attempts at financial initiatives almost always ended up in suspicions and accusations of grand scale corruption with no accountability.

In fact, PBBM’s rush to introduce the fund before the World Economic Forum without a definitive strategy and concept easily raised eyebrows in economic circles here and overseas, amid news of failed attempts of far richer countries in their versions of sovereign funds.

Finally, this Maharlika Investment Fund is in the hands of the Congress to determine what kind of creature it should be.

It is in this regard that we call on our congress representatives not to be swayed by political considerations but to be more circumspect in defining it. Better still, to determine if such a fund can, indeed, result in a dramatic positive development of the country and our people, or further impoverish our people once it sinks like it did in other countries.

Let’s hear our congressmen share their views, what they know and think of it. This is one legislative initiative where each one must show readiness to be accountable for his and her stand.

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