Railroading 'Maharlika' | #NeverForget Diary
Week 24: December 5-11, 2022
This is the #NeverForget Diary, a weekly summary of what’s happening in the Philippines under Marcos II. In a time of mangled histories and fragile memories, it’s crucial never to forget. (Note: this post may be clipped in your email inbox. Photo above from PTV.)
This week, the Marcos camp, its supporters, and its apologists did their best to railroad the proposed Maharlika Investments Fund (the name keeps changing).
Former president Gloria Arroyo, an economist by training, threw in her support behind bill (she’s not one of the co-authors):
Arroyo claimed the idea for a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) isn’t new, and former senator Bam Aquino had proposed something similar in 2016. But Bam quickly rebutted that he proposed that bill under very different circumstances:
Arroyo also put her faith in the finance secretary, who will supposedly advise the Maharlika Fund’s chairman of the board, who at that time was going to be President Marcos Jr. himself (this was later changed to the finance secretary). But history is replete with examples of bad finance secretaries.
Meanwhile, presidential son and Maharlika Fund bill co-author Sandro Marcos also tried to reassure people that pension funds won’t be touched.
For his part, self-proclaimed economist Albay Rep. Joey Salceda defended the bill with an amateurish deck of slides:
Some charlatans posing as economists are also appearing in media to defend the bill:
Most unfortunately, the economic team—led by Finance Secretary Ben Diokno—is really rallying behind it, to the point that they’re making absurd claims like the BSP has “too much” reserves. NO.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan has kept mum so far.
Thankfully, BSP Governor Felipe Medalla expressed his reservations. He allegedly told friends he doesn’t mind not being reappointed in 2023 because of this resistance.
He was since bashed by some lawmakers—even called “unpatriotic”—for refusing to yield.
On December 9, the economic managers issued a joint statement. Is this evidence of unity on their part, or not?
Three of them are PhD economists and former professors at UP. Are they inadvertently deodorizing the bad choices of Marcos Jr. and his family?
GSIS president and general manager Wick Veloso is said to be the brains behind the Maharlika Fund. No wonder he’s defending it to the death:
Opposition has been loud and clear. A dozen business groups and economic policy groups aired their opposition against the Maharlika bill:
Many other economists are speaking out against it, including former NEDA chief Dr. Ciel Habito:
Prof. Winnie Monsod has also spoken out:
She asked: what role did the economic managers really play? Did they really draft the bill, as claimed once by Quimbo?
National Scientist Raul V. Fabella has also spoken against the measure:
Men Sta. Ana of Action for Economic Reforms is also against it:
Dr. Fabella pointed out that there’s a fundamental moral hazard problem at play. Essentially, it’s too easy to play around with other people’s money.
My take on the Maharlika Fund:
Rep. Rowena Guanzon is all agog:
Finance Secretary called critics of the Maharlika Fund as “ignorant.”
On December 7, amid great public backlash, Rep. Stella Quimbo told media that GSIS and SSS are no longer contributing money for the Fund:
Thank god SSS was spared from Maharlika. Note that in 2023, SSS contribution rates are set to increase—a way to extend its actuarial fund life.
Despite some changes, merely tweaking the bill won’t do.
Some people have commented that Rep. Quimbo is now more of a politician than an economist. Sad. A colleague of mine at UP said this interview with Karen Davila was “painful to watch”:
One recent tweak is that rather than get money from BSP’s reserves, Maharlika will get money from BSP’s net profits (half of which is remitted to the Treasury as “dividends”).
But touching the BSP’s profits will make it harder for the institution to build enough capital—it’s embarrassingly small now.
Proponents must also firm up the Maharlika Fund’s governance structure. Here’s one suggestion from economist Rico Villanueva (a chief risk officer in banks prior to becoming a senior lecturer at UP Los Baños):
If gov’t banks are implicated, it might compromise their ability to give out development loans:
For a long time Marcos Jr. kept mum about Maharlika.
He recently promised he would push for fiscal prudence. But his Maharlika bill is the opposite of that.
At the end of the day, the proposed Maharlika Fund must be reckoned in the context of the Marcoses’ bad history:
Is the Maharlika Fund what they meant during the campaign when they said “unity”?
Some Maharlika-inspired memes:
Btw, remember this?
This week I did a couple of media interviews about Maharlika:
INFLATION THINGS
This week the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that inflation in November reached a 14-year high of 8%.
It’s driven mainly by food.
More disturbingly, core inflation and inflation for the poorest 30% of households are going up.
It’s already December, yet the president says he’s still “trying to identify” the main drivers of inflation. Really?
He also resorts to word salad when trying to explain inflation.
Boosting local production for agri commodities (like onions) is key. Not all politicians are so ignorant as the president when it comes to agriculture.
Meanwhile, amid “out of control” inflation, Marcos Jr. said the growth rate looks “healthy.” Does he know about base effects?
The BSP reiterated in its latest inflation statement that other government agencies must do their part.
I was interviewed this week by former vice president “Kabayan” Noli de Castro about inflation:
#NEVERFORGET
Marcos Jr. revives his father’s old program, BLISS.
Manila Luzon’s ending spiel for Drag Den Philippines’ pilot episode was on point:
Marina Summers of Drag Race Philippines wore this terno with a message:
#HOLDTHELINE
Rappler CEO and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa launched her new book at Estancia Mall in Pasig City.
Lapid Fire, the program of slain journalist Percy Lapid, comes back with the brother, Roy Mabasa, now at the helm:
A troll tries to warp the truth by listing down supposed “achievements” of the president in his first 100 days:
What if Facebook removes news altogether?
Do we need a law just so the DepEd will teach current events more systematically?
MISCELLANY
Dumb questions at the appointment hearing for DOST Secretary Renato Solidum:
The UP System has a new president in the person of lawyer Angelo “Jijil” Jimenez. He’s not an academic.
CHED chair Popoy de Vera was at a loss for words trying justifying Jimenez:
Jimenez has a lot of problematic stances:
Congress’ bicameral conference committee approved the 2023 budget. Unpalatable aspects that were previously removed or tempered, like confidential funds, were resurrected by the bicam—to the disappointment of Senator Risa Hontiveros:
New banknotes were presented by BSP Governor Medalla at Malacañang:
Gov’t wasted P10 billion in loans for small businesses damaged by the pandemic:
Let’s pay more attention to the learning losses from the pandemic:
A tweet from journalist Atom Araullo sparked outrage among gov’t apologists:
Ugly reclamation projects are sprouting at Manila Bay, spoiling its world-famous sunset view:
Big investments are going Vietnam’s way:
FUN WITH CHATGPT
People are having fun with OpenAI creation ChatGPT. Time even interviewed it.
It can write sold essays on development economics:
One quickly realizes this marks the end of homework:
Rap battle between Sauron and economist (and recent Nobel laureate) Ben Bernanke:
It has a list of recommendations to fight inflation:
I instructed it to write economics haikus, and they’re pretty decent:
It also knows that the Marcos Sr. years were not the country’s “golden age”:
Btw ChatGPT can write code as well:
Can ChatGPT improve or worsen democracy?
At least ChatGPT can now make postmodernist writing understandable:
Finally, it has a sensible take on the proposed Maharlika Fund:
GRAPHS OF NOTE
China’s the biggest contributor to CO2 emissions now:
When Trump’s account was taken down, there was a 25% drop in toxicity spewed on Twitter by his followers:
Twitter for research?
RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommended Twitter Space: Usapang Econ and guests talk about the Maharlika Fund. Very educational if I say so myself.
Listen to the entire recording here:
Recommended vaccine: The COVID vaccine. Get boosted.
Here’s what ChatGPT thinks of vaccine hesitancy in the Philippines.
Recommended movie: Troll on Netflix. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pretty decent!
Recommended series: Drag Den Philippines. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Much better production than Drag Race Philippines.
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