Global woes won’t dent MIF investment draw, solon says

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

TIMING is right for the Philippines to set up its Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) amid fears that headwinds could thrust much of the world into nearrecession levels, a senior lawmaker insisted on Monday, the eve of the expected signing of the controversial MIF into law.

At a time when the Philippines has received an investment or credit rating upgrade, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s expected signing Tuesday of the MIF law will undoubtedly provide the country with a new growth stimulant, according to Camarines Sur Rep. and National Unity Party (NUP) president LRay Villafuerte.

Despite warnings by some economists that this is the worst time to be courting investments as problems slash outputs in much of the developed world, Villafuerte said the MIF will clear the way to an alternative, potentially huge source of investment funds that would enable the national government to spend much bigger on public infrastructure and its other big-ticket programs to shore up the President’s “Agenda for Peace and Prosperity.”

A principal author of the MIF law, Villafuerte explained that, “The 19th Congress, in writing this MIF measure, sought to fit up government with a new funding stream for investments other than the traditional sources of funds, namely, the General Appropriations Act (GAA) or national budget, official development assistance (ODA) from our overseas partners and the business sector via the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.”

He added: “The establishment of the MIF, which our economic managers expect to be up and running before 2023 is over, is timely at this time when the Philippines has secured a higher investment-grade