And promote PH as investment hub, articulate admin’s gains at World Economic Forum in Davos

SPEAKER Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez on Monday expressed confidence President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. would be able to successfully articulate his administration’s gains, introduce the country’s sovereign wealth fund and promote the Philippines as investment hub at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

It could be recalled that Romualdez was instrumental in arranging the meeting between President Marcos and WEF founder Dr. Klauss Schwab at the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asean Nations (ASEAN) Summits held in Cambodia where the latter invited the President to the Davos meet.

The meeting at Davos will see over 50 heads of state taking part, along with global business leaders, celebrities and prominent social activists.

“In his previous participation in various global fora, President Marcos has displayed an excellent ability to articulate the interests of the Philippines as well as the significant gains achieved under his administration and the country’s direction for future growth,” Romualdez noted.

“I’m confident he would do the same in the WEF, particularly in introducing the Maharlika Wealth Fund to the global stage and in helping our local business leaders explore investment opportunities for the Philippines,” added Romualdez, who is part of the official delegation of President Marcos to the WEF.

In an interview during his flight bound for Switzerland, President Marcos told members of the Philippine media that WEF presents an excellent opportunity to soft launch the Maharlika Investment Fund and promote the Philippines as an investment hub.

“We’ll talk about the Philippines, what the situation is as an investment destination. Now, added to that, meron na tayong pwedeng pag-usapan, itong sovereign wealth fund,” President Marcos explained when asked how he would introduce the MIF to the WEF participants.

“So, sasabihin ko exactly what happened: that we are forming a sovereign wealth fund for big investments in the basic areas such as agriculture, energy, digitalization, and climate change,” the President added.

The House of Representatives approved last December 16, 2022 House Bill (HB) No. 6608, creating the the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill with the solid support of 90 percent or 282 out of the 312 members of the chamber who were officially named as co-authors of the measure.

Romualdez, who is the principal author of the measure, said HB 6088 includes adequate safeguard against possible abuse and fraud.

“The proposed sovereign wealth fund will help President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. keep the country on the high-growth path. We want to assure the public that the management of the fund will follow best practices and the principles of transparency and accountability,” he stressed.

In the same interview, President Marcos bared that a new format adopted for the Davos meet this year opens a wider latitude to communicate the government’s effort to attract foreign investments into the county.

The President said the new WEF format is similar to that in the recent Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Thailand where he, along Schwab and other selected guests were given time to deliver a short speech and answered specific questions from the audience.

“Kung titingnan mo ‘yung mga prepared speeches, maliliit lang, five minutes lang. But I think that kind of forum, that kind of format… will give us a better opportunity to expand and expound on the things that we are doing in the Philippines,” Marcos said.

In addition, the President said the WEF also provides Philippine business leaders the opportunity to engage with their counterparts from various parts of the world to explore possible investment deals.

He noted that most of the time the best deals are done outside of the forum, in particular during “pull away” engagements where certain parties may conduct talks on the sidelines to discuss business opportunities.

“So we will have a lot of those because there are certain businessmen (attending the WEF), who our own business group want to engage,” President Marcos explained.

The President said he and members of the Cabinet in his delegation could assist the Filipino businessmen to facilitate such engagements.

“I think that’s where, besides the fora, a lot of work will be done in the sidelines as usual,” he said. BY RYAN PONCE PACPACO & ROY PELOVELLO