On Diokno’s bid, PBBM certifies MIF urgent By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz, @joveemarie
Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas, @jearcalas
& Samuel P. Medenilla
A
@sam_medenilla
T the behest of Finance Secretar y Benjamin E. Diokno, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has certified as urgent a bill creating the country’s Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF). Diokno wrote Marcos on December 13 requesting the certification as urgent of House Bill (HB)
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6608, which seeks to establish the MIF, the country’s first sovereign wealth fund that has been mired in controversy since it was first floated. The current administration's economic managers, which include Diokno, had earlier publicly endorsed passage of HB 6608 on the grounds that the measure would provide the country with muchneeded funds. They later pointed out that most of the grounds objectors had cited—initially, the tapping of the two main pension funds, for both private and government
SM Prime Holdings Executive Committee Chairman Hans T. Sy (center) accepts his TOFIL plaque and trophy from ANSA Foundation President Anthony Philip A. Nocom (left) and JCI Senate Philippines (JCISP)-TOFIL Foundation President Rogelio V. Garcia. Sy was awarded the TOFIL (The Outstanding Filipino) laureate for Business and Resilience from the JCI Senate Philippines. The prestigious award is in recognition of Sy’s initiatives in environmental sustainability, business continuity and disaster preparedness. He champions national resilience using sciencebased solutions and through public private partnerships.
sector workers—have already been addressed in various amendments introduced by proponents. “ This is to respectfully request His Excellency to certify as urgent House Bill No. 6608, establishing the Maharlika Investment Fund, filed as Committee Report No. 237 by the Committees on Banks and Financial Intermediaries, Appropriations, and Ways and Means,” Diokno said in his letter, which was also coursed through Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
See “Diokno,” A2
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Friday, December 16, 2022 Vol. 18 No. 65
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 28 pages | 7 days a week
TO DENT ’23, ’24 GROWTH By Cai U. Ordinario
Remittances from 4 areas boost 10-mo total by $2.1B
@caiordinario
T
HE Monetary Board’s decision to raise the country’s benchmark rates by 50 basis points (bps) on Thursday would likely have an impact on the country’s growth rate in the next two years.
The Monetary Board decided to raise the BSP’s overnight reverse repurchase facility by 50 basis points to 5.5 percent, effective 16 December 2022. Accordingly, the interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities will be set to 5 percent and 6 percent, respectively. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Felipe M. Medalla said the impact of the recent interest rate hike would be 19 bps in 2024 or a reduction of a percentage point from GDP growth. In 2023, the impact would be less at 7 bps or less than a percentage-point reduction due to the lag time in the impact of the rate hike on growth. “Ang aming tingin, mas importante sa mga tao mapababa yung inflation. Mas masasaktan ang mga tao ng mataas na inflation kesa masasaktan sila sa pagbagsak ng GDP growth rate natin [In our view, it’s more important for Filipinos See “50-BPS,” A2
By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
C
@jearcalas
ASH remittances sent by Filipinos abroad through October rose by an annualized rate of 3.1 percent to $26.74 billion, latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed. The Central Bank said the total amount of cash remittances during the 10-month period was $2.103 billion higher than the $24.633 billion recorded amount a year ago. “The growth in cash remittances from the United States [US], Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Qatar contributed largely to the increase in remittances in January-October 2022,” it said in a statement on Thursday. The BSP said the US posted the highest share of overall re-
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. addresses a media conference during the EU-Asean summit in Brussels, Wednesday, December 14, 2022. EU and Asean leaders met in Brussels for a oneday summit to discuss strategic partnership, trade relations and various international topics. AP/OLIVIER MATTHYS
mittances during the reference period, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia. Despite the Philippine peso further weakening against the US dollar in October, Executive Director Jeremaiah Opiniano of the Institute for Migration and Development Issues told the BusinessMirror that the growth rate of the monthly cumulative remittances was stagnant at 3.1 percent. Total cash remittances during the January to September period was also at 3.1 percent on an annual basis. Opiniano explained that this could indicate that Overseas Filipinos’ (OFs) remittances were affected by the acceleration of the prices of goods in their respective host countries. See “Remittances,” A2
EU-backed ‘doctrine of behaviors’ in SCS to ease tensions–Marcos
W
ITH the backing of the European Union (EU), President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said he expects the resolution of the existing territorial disputes in the South China Sea (SCS). In a press conference in Belgium on Wednesday, Marcos said the ASEAN and EU already have a joint declaration on the “doctrine
PESO exchange rates n US 55.7010
of behaviors” in the SCS. He noted the said declaration will help in the enforcement of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in the area. “The doctrine of behaviors in the South China Sea is already a very, very big step for us in the Philippines for example and for all the countries around the South
China Sea, that we now have the support, a strategic support from not only the member countries of EU but of EU itself,” Marcos said. T he Philippines and other ASEAN countries currently have e x i st i ng ter r itor i a l d i sputes with China over some parts of the WPS. See “EU-backed,” A2
n japan 0.4112 n UK 69.2085 n HK 7.1662 n CHINA 8.0122 n singapore 41.3580 n australia 38.2276 n EU 59.5054 n KOREA 0.0430 n SAUDI arabia 14.8161 Source: BSP (December 15, 2022)