Pimentel wants iron-clad provision to protect Filipinos' pensions in Maharlika bill

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said there should be an iron-clad provision that will guarantee that pension funds will not be touched or compromised in the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill.

"Our workers' hard-earned pension should be shielded from any adverse implications that could arise from the establishment of MIF," he added.

Unfortunately, the threat that MIF would dip its hands into retirees' pension funds is still very much alive.

The earlier versions of the measure wanted to tap into the funds being managed by the country's top social insurance institutions, namely the Government Service Insurance system (GSIS) and the Social Security System (SSS) as the source for the initial capital of Maharlika.

When the proposal received tremendous backlash even from executives of GSIS and SSS, the contested provision was removed.

"While they removed the forced contribution from GSIS and SSS, the current version of MIF under consideration by the Senate would allow these social insurance institutions to invest in Maharlika voluntarily as long as their boards agree," Pimentel warned.

According to Pimentel, a bar topnotcher, Section 6, last paragraph of the proposed measure states that "Under no circumstance shall the GOCCs providing for the social security of government employees, private sectors, workers and employees, and other sectors and subsectors, such as but not limited to the Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System, and Home Development Mutual Fund, be requested or required to contribute to the MIC."

However, Section 12 of the measure allows "voluntary investment". It mentioned "that other GFIs and GOCCs may invest into the MIF, subject to their respective investment and risk management strategies, and approval of their respective boards."

"Such provisions within the MIF bill raise serious concerns about the safety and security of our pension system. We should provide an iron-clad provision to shield pensions from this very financially unsound and dangerous undertaking called Maharlika Investment Fund," Pimentel said.

"Hindi pwedeng pilitin. Hindi puedeng hingan. Pero kung kusa at boluntaryong magbibigay, tatanggapin naman!" Pimentel said.

Without an iron-clad provision, Pimentel said pension funds would still be used to fund the MIF.