Highlights from the interpellation of Senator Pia S. Cayetano on the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund Act (SBN 2020)
The MIF needs to be studied carefully
I sponsored the CREATE Bill and that took us a year. With the number of session days, the number of hours we defended that. I am not questioning his honor. I am just saying that for the record, bills of this magnitude take time. And I say this not just to the sponsor but to the Filipino people, na pinag-aaralan ho nang maayos ito. Also to our colleagues, both in the executive and in the other House, the Senate has been known to take its time to study these measures. And this representation has defended similar measures. So yun lang naman ang sa akin. We want to study it well.
On investments and ‘voluntary contributions’ of GOCCs
This is an important one. His honor mentioned that GSIS and SSS will no longer be required to invest as was part of the original plan. So now they will no longer be required to invest. Di ba may iba pa rito? Ano pa bang mga ibang GOCCs? GSIS, SSS… that were originally included in the required investors’ list? PhilHealth? Pagibig and PhilHealth. I don’t know if there were other mandatory investors in this Maharlika bill. Correct? That’s the first statement.
So these are the only subscribers, A, B, and C, right? And then you have a provision later on that says, “under no circumstances shall the GOCCs providing for social security of government employees, etc., be requested or required.” So meaning to say, they won’t be requested, there will be no formal request or an informal request, they will not be required, but they can voluntarily contribute. How does one voluntarily contribute when they are a GOCC and their heads are appointed by no less than the government itself?
Does his honor actually think that this gives comfort to the Filipino people? Given the Blue Ribbon Committee hearings we’ve had, all these investigations. It’s an honest-to-goodness question, your honor. Does that give his honor comfort?
So his honor is not aware of situations in the past where heads of GOCCs somehow agreed to certain agreements, and I know there are provisions here that it’s bawal to enter into transactions disadvantageous to government, talagang yung utak natin punong puno na, every Filipino knows that phrase already: disadvantageous to the Filipino people. The Blue Ribbon Committee is always so busy investigating these things.
So I am genuinely curious if this did not cross his honor’s mind. May concern ba tayong ganun? Kasi I note that this is a priority bill and the Senate does have a history of doing its best, at least the majority, of course, but the minority has always been as supportive as possible to support the administration’s measure. So we take the lead from the sponsor.
So I hope his honor will understand that I need to ask this question because his honor is the one who spent hours and hours studying, discussing, and me being the Senate’s futures thinking hindi naman expert, practitioner, parang takot na takot ako ma-foresee na yung next order or business natin in a few years will be the investigation of [GOCCs]… Hindi naman sila ni-request o ni-require, pero nag-volunteer sila. Tapos ayan na yung mga initials-initials na papel. Yun lang naman, your honor.
I want this to be on record kasi ang laki ng tinataya natin dito. And if I may just add one last point, ito nga yung GOCCs providing social security measures. And I will just speak for the health sector. Every year, your honor, P70 billion ang hinihingi na extra funding ng PhilHealth, taun-taon. Every year, ang nabibigay lang natin sa kanila is maybe an extra P5 billion, kasi hindi rin nila maayos-ayos ang kanilang mga finance and accounting.
I haven’t, for the sake of this interpellation, really had the chance to look at how much of their funds are invested in other investments. But alam ko nga may board of directors, but those same board of directors were the ones who, on their watch, hindi nababayaran ang mga ospital, magsasara ang mga private hospital dahil hindi nababayaran. And I am not even attributing malice pa. I am just saying na yun ang mga nangyayari under their watch.
Amendment pushed to prevent contributions from GOCCs providing social welfare services to the MIF
Thank you, your honor. Would his honor be open to an amendment that would prevent these government corporations that provide social services from contributing so that there is actually no opportunity for the crossing of that line?
So his honor earlier mentioned that these social service GOCCs, he assumes that their board of directors would, in my own words, exercise due diligence required of them to choose their investments and the entire resource group of his honor are nodding their heads, so I will take that as a yes, your honor.
And at the same time, his honor is saying that if the Maharlika Corporation will be investing in other investment opportunities, why would you prevent them? Well, I will ask his honor this question: what is the main purpose of the existence of these social security corporations? It’s to provide social service. It would be great if they have additional income, but that is definitely secondary. Would his honor agree?
Mr President, thank you for his honor’s explanation. My response to his honor’s explanation is as follows. If his honor agrees that the principal purpose of existence of a GOCC providing for social services like PhilHealth is to provide for health, and yet they are allowed to invest in funding, but they must do so prudently, would it not be prudent on our part in Congress to not increase the exposure of the Filipino people, such that if the Maharlika fund fails, and before I continue my question, there is no guarantee that it will be successful, correct?
So let’s not debate that because we both know that with prudence, hopefully it does very well. But there is no guarantee. If P125 billion is already going to be invested there, would it not be an acceptable amount of prudence that the GOCCs providing for the Filipino security, yung kanilang health security, home security, huwag na lang din dumagdag pa doon? Para lang in case hindi siya naging successful, hindi na siya nadamay. Would that not be a prudent thing to do?
Summary of concerns
If I were to summarize my concerns, my concern would be, yes, it is a fund that could generate income. But the underlying word here is ‘could.’ It’s a possibility but it is not an assurance. And we should not in any way add to the uncertainty by allowing, including, or even accepting investments from our corporations such as PhilHealth, GSIS, and SSS, from investing people’s money in these funds.
I thank the gentleman for his time. I wish him all the best in the defense, but I also hope that his honor would be willing to work with us so that the Senate can come up with a version that is more acceptable to us, so that we can support. Because we are one in the desire of the administration to provide for a better future for the Filipino.
I don’t think anyone in the Senate will disagree with that. But the manner by which we will go about it is very important, your honor. And we have to use utmost prudence in the exercise of our powers because it’s in our hands, your honor. That is also my appeal. It’s in our hands. So we must, I hope we will take time to work together to craft a measure that is actually less risky.
Kumbaga, what is your risk appetite? For the Filipino people, if there is extra money somewhere, walang problema. Pero kung pondo yun na directly contributing to their welfare, health nila, pabahay nila, medyo mahirap po sa akin na isipin na iri-risk po yun.
Thank you, Mr President. Thank you, your honor. #
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