WE recently attended a meeting of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council, during which the leaders and members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives brainstorm with representatives of the Executive branch on the prioritization of bills for approval. Through the LEDAC, the administration will be able to convey its list of priority bills that are in line with its agenda for the short term and for the succeeding years.
As proposed, initial funding for the MIF will be sourced from the Land Bank of the Philippines , the Development Bank of the Philippines , the declared dividends of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and a portion of the gross gaming revenues of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Prior to the conduct of hearings by the Committee on Banks, the economic managers briefed us on the MIF and tried to answer any questions we had about the fund. I have expressed my concerns in the past about the original plan to include the pension funds held by the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System insofar as I did not want to expose these funds to any investment that carries with it some degree of risk.
There is also the issue of safeguarding the fund, which is for most people, including the public, the most important aspect that must be addressed in the discussion of these bills. The proponents of the MIF have said that there will be tight safeguards incorporated into the bills and that transparency and accountability will be ensured in the management of the fund.