House Bill No. 6398 seeking to establish the Maharlika Wealth Fund is out of tune, dangerous, and half-baked.
The bill does not address the current reality we are in. Our country needs to invest more in our post-pandemic recovery efforts than to make a high-risk investment in such a sovereign wealth fund against the backdrop of dollar deficit and inflationary pressures. The government should prioritize finding solutions to issues like pay hikes for nurses, unpaid benefits for healthcare workers, rising food prices, traffic congestion, poverty, worsening quality of education, and minimum wage for workers, among others.
Some of the millions of pesos to be invested in such a sovereign wealth fund would come from the money of the members of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Social Security System (SSS). The question is: are not GSIS and SSS members, as investors, entitled to give their consent rights? This is known as investors’ consent which means that members should have been consulted first prior to making a potentially costly decision to invest their money in such a sovereign wealth fund.
The bill is an example of a half-baked and half-hearted piece of legislation. When lawmakers are raring to have the bill approved on Dec. 12 this year then it only means that they do not offer the opportunity for a more extensive discussion. Why the rush? Will the bill solve the ills of our society in no time once it is approved? A good law is a product of a meticulous discussion on the merits of a bill. The lawmakers should remember that you can’t dig a well when the house is on fire.
REGINALD B. TAMAYO
Marikina City
reginaldtamayo@yahoo.com