Congress should exercise its oversight powers on the country’s sovereign wealth fund, examining its projects, investments and compliance with existing laws, a congressman said on Thursday.

Lawmakers should look into the Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC) after it was created nearly two years ago to determine the status of the wealth fund, Party-list Rep. Bernadette R. Herrera said.

“Oversight powers of Congress should be invoked to ascertain in detail the status of the Fund and whether the MIC and other involved agencies fully comply with the MIC charter and related laws,” she said in a statement.

“Where are the projects… [and] return on investments?” she asked.

The Philippines’ sovereign wealth fund made three investments this year, including an injection into the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, the launch of a private equity fund with a Thai conglomerate, and financing for a mining feasibility study by an Australian subsidiary in the country.

The MIC has already remitted P1.447 billion to the National Treasury, BusinessWorld reported in May. The fund earned P2.3 billion in interest income last year.

Created by a 2023 law, the MIC has an authorized capital stock of P500 billion. Of this, P125 billion were sourced from the investible funds of the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines, as well as contributions from the National Government, including dividend remittances of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio

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