AN economist is questioning the current state of the Maharlika Investment Fund. It has been almost a year since it was established, and yet it— still does not have an official office.
“Try to search the physical address of the Maharlika Fund in Google—because I’ve been searching for it for a long time and can’t find anything.”
“What I expected was that by this time, there should have been an office already. Are they all working from home?” Dr. Michael Batu, Economist said.
Economist Dr. Michael Batu is challenging the public to find the official office or address of the Maharlika Investment Fund (M-I-F.)
It has been almost a year since its establishment in July 2023, however, it still does not have its own office.
According to Batu, the M-I-F is very far from the sovereign wealth fund of other countries.
“And even their website—they don’t have their own website. Their website is linked to the Department of Finance.”
“So, what kind of sovereign wealth fund is that? The Indonesia Investment Authority has a very nice page. It has a physical address.”
“Sovereign investment funds of other countries have an office, a physical office address, and a decent website,” Batu added.
Dr. Batu also criticized the reports of the MIF.
“They have already taken funds from the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank. Where are the investments? And they are mandated by law under the Maharlika Investment Fund Act, to release reports. To publicize the report on where the money is going,” he added.
Batu clarified that he is not opposed to M-I-F, but that he is only raising his concerns regarding its management.
Batu also said:
“I think the Maharlika Fund suffered unfortunate, because they used the word “Maharlika.”
“I’ve been saying that the Maharlika Fund should have a different name. My suggestion back then was the Philippine Strategic Investment Fund. Make it apolitical, and remove the politics from the fund’s name.”
“Like now, they named it “Maharlika”, it’s unfortunate. Why? Investors will search on Google, “What is this MIF?”, and who comes up? It’s “Maharlika Boldyakera” [political vlogger], that’s the name that comes up instead of the investment fund,” he stated.
