NOT that Lucenahin Justin Bibe, the toast of Barangay Nueve, is not adept with the English language, but Justin told us this is the first time that he heard a congressman refer to a bill being processed in the legislative mill called House of Representatives as undergoing "congressional surgery."
Quezon's 2nd district representative David Jay-jay Suarez has characterized the passage of the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill in the House as congressional surgery.
Justin Bibe swore that he and several macho "maglulukad" in Calumpang were amazed at Jay-jay's choice of colorful adjective to refer to the railroading of the MIF bill.
While we are at it, Justin Bibe asks why did Congress rename the Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF) which became just MIF.
Meanwhile, all Jay-jay meant was that the congressmen, led by House Speaker Martin Romualdez, vetted the bill well, wrote into it several safety nets and some such shibboleths.
Suarez said: “The approval of the bill went through congressional surgery. We made sure that not only is it compliant to local laws but congruent to international standards as well,” Suarez said of House Bill (HB) 6608, or the MIF Bill.
The measure, which is envisioned to become the Philippine sovereign wealth fund, was approved by plenary on third and final reading last Dec. 15. It was initially penned and filed by members of the House leadership on Nov. 28. Over 280 House members ended up co-authoring the controversial measure.
“I am pleased that even members of the House of Representatives who were initially opposing the bill are now co-authors of the final version that was approved by the lower house. That is proof that the measure was well-thought of and sufficiently deliberated upon,” said deputy majority leader Suarez.
According to him, the proposal underwent exhaustive review and rigorous plenary discussions. He said the MIF itself was “fortified with safeguards and safety nets to ensure that fund managers will not be able to dip their hands into the fund’s investments”.
Jay-jay showed his naivete about international finance and investments when he said that "there 79 sovereign investment funds from other countries, of which 78 were successful. It is an issue of management and with so many brilliant minds in the Philippines, the Maharlika fund will be successful."
The solon obviously referred to Malaysia's 1MDB as the failed wealth fund, but was conveniently silent on Temasek's several billion-dollar losses in the collapse of FTX of Sam Bankman-Fried. Or, does Jay-jay even know about this?