[WATCH] In The Public Square with John Nery: The Maharlika fund – why the rush?

Editor’s note: This program was recorded on Monday, May 29, two days before the two chambers of Congress separately approved the final version of the proposed sovereign wealth fund that now only needs President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s signature before it becomes a law.

This week, the Senate rushed to pass Senate Bill 2020, creating the Maharlika Investment Fund, before the first legislative session of the 19th Congress ends on June 2. The more compliant House of Representatives already passed its version, House Bill 6608, last December.

Divert billions of pesos from development banks to create a large special-purpose investment fund, name it after a fake guerilla unit in World War II, disregard numerous red flags—what can possibly go wrong?

In this episode of In The Public Square, veteran journalist and Rappler columnist John Nery talks to an economist and a risk consultant who has been among the first and most trenchant voices arguing against the Maharlika Investment Fund. Enrico Patiga Villanueva is a senior lecturer in economics at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, who has served as a chief risk officer in both national and international institutions. 

Watch In The Public Square on Wednesday, May 31, at 8 pm. – Rappler.com