Two Philippine lawmakers related to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr have introduced legislation to set up the Southeast Asian country’s first sovereign wealth fund, to be seeded with 250 billion pesos (US$4.43 billion) from state-owned institutions, including two pension funds.
The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Speaker Martin Romualdez, and Representative Sandro Marcos, the president’s eldest son. Romualdez is his cousin.
The wealth fund is to be called Maharlika Investments Fund.
The seed money will come from four top state-owned institutions, including the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), a pension fund for civil servants, which will contribute the lion’s share of 125 billion pesos.
Another 50 billion pesos each will come from the Social Security System, a pension fund for private sector employees and the self-employed, and the Land Bank of the Philippines. The Development Bank of the Philippines will contribute 25 billion pesos.
Romualdez says the sovereign wealth fund will provide “an opportunity to ensure their [the four institutions] respective funds’ optimal asset allocation as well as ensure that resources are efficiently channelled to investments that will provide the most value to the economy”.