For the millions of SSS and GSIS members, particularly the pensioners, present and future, it is simple, straightforward, consistent with the spirit of the season and will cost the second Marcos Malacanang occupant not even a cent: peace of mind.
It will, in the process, also spare them from what St. Augustine called the punishment of a disordered mind: a disordered mind. There is already a good reason that that happy state will be unnecessarily compromised. No less than the President’s eldest sister has pushed the alarm button.
What should Mr. Marcos Jr. do? Scrap the proposed creation of the Marhalika Sovereign Fund authored by his cousin Martin Romualdez through a House bill, in what many think is a hand-in-glove agenda , recalling an ancient political quip by another legislator once upon a time about what being in power is for. The bill has in view the use of billions of SSS/GSIS members/pensioners money in the target P250 billion investment portfolio.
It will be a huge risk, according to Sen. Imee Marcos. Risk, as any businessman worth his salt knows, means cost. It also means that in an imperfect world even the best plan with the best intention, falls or fails. It will be unlike gambling the pensioners’ future in a single role of the dice. Aptly, it’s dicey, per Madam Imee.. And her reaction to the only brother has nothing to do with the fabled sibling rivalry.
At least, there is one proof to one possibility.. A similar fund was created by the Malaysian government and the fund vanished into thin air because of corruption with no less than a former primer minister put behind bars as the leader of the legal loot. The cautionary voice of Sen. Marcos may or may not resonate similarly along that line, it provokes mass uneasiness nevertheless .
The word ‘maharlika’ rings a historical bell. There was a time during the president father’s rule, either as president or dictator, when martial law gripped the land, ‘maharlika ’ was floated around as a fine name for the republic. The idea emerged from the tantalizing concept of a conjugal kingdom led by Malakas with Maganda at his side in pursuit of a new society ala –Camelot.
At the time, the use of sovereign guarantee by those close to the powers-that-be, aka cronies, used their personal and political proximity to the hilt by borrowing from foreign banks using the government as collateral. Many enriched themselves by building white elephants, laughing all the way to the bank, sinking the country’ deeper into massive debt misery..
Does the past haunt the sister senator? Maybe, maybe not. Her message is the same: there are pitfalls in the world of financial investment that even the venerated Walls Street firm, Goldman Sachs, in the United States lost S2.1 billion in the blink of an eye during the 2008 financial crisis. It’s like the sinking of the Titanic, it blindsided the so-called experts. The world isn’t exactly in tip-top shape today with recession hurting the global economy.
The local sovereign fund choir is still bullish despite the bearish environment. The congressman son of the president has a sure-fire formula: when the market is good, investment will be made; when it’s weak, it will be taken out. Simple as that. The fear, cynicism and criticism of the naysayers are a stretch coming from the clueless, jealous opposition and then some like the sister who cries disaster.
Apart from the risk of the idea of using the pensioners’ money, there is the matter of timing. The Philippine economy is not in the best of health for one, even if the reported seven plus GDP in the third quarter is touted as better than most in the neighborhood,if not the best. The country, in fact, is mired in debt, it cannot suspend the VAT on fuel tax because it will surely affect its ability to pay the loans incurred during the pandemic and probably way beyond back.
It defies the ideal or practical. Countries that go into sovereign fund mode have surplus fund to invest to earn more money, not exactly desperate. The Philippines isn’t in this category yet. But that’s exactly the idea, an avid fan of the noble project countered, the MSF will provide the government more revenue and keep the pipeline humming with projects like the ayuda that keep the poor above water. It’s a win-win proposition the clueless, the cynics and the critics fail to appreciate.
Perhaps, it’s neither the issue of risk or the matter of timing. Maybe it’s about trust.
PBBM is pursuing a mandate whose legitimacy or authenticity is being challenged by a group that believes there was something wrong in the technical side of counting the storied 31 million votes he garnered over the real opposition Leni Robredo. The issue has been brought before the Supreme court whose chief has been quoted not too long ago that the court’s decisions are not exactly final even if it is not infallible. That put many on the edge about the issue of the unpaid estate tax amounting to, at the minimum, P23 billion, or a maximum P203 billion.
It is of curious interest that PBMM’s initial choice as tax collector was eventually replaced by a friendly one, dissing his sister’s advice that he should a form a team of rivals in his Cabinet rather than a team of yes-men. Not surprising in light of the estate tax issue, because the first choice spoke her mind about HIM being an exemplar for the rest of the nation.
“I’m upset that you lied to me,” Nietsche said, “I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you”.
The trust once totally lost or taken back in a peaceful street protest more than a generation ago, is now being redeemed in a hurry in so many ways starting from making rice at P25, even P20 per kilo. The MSF is pursued also in the direction of helping the poor who, by the latest survey, have risen to 16 percent.
Who will be laughing all the way to the bank? The script looks all too familiar.
