For 3rd straight year, Maharlika gets no nat’l budget allocation
The Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC), manager of the Philippines’ P125-billion sovereign wealth fund, will once again receive no allocation from the national budget in 2026, with officials saying it still has enough resources to finance its investment plans.
Budget documents show that the 2026 National Expenditure Plan, which the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) submitted to Congress last week, contains no earmarked funding for the MIC.
As in previous years, the MIC, headed by Rafael Consing Jr., did not submit any budget proposal, Budget Assistant Secretary Mary Anne Dela Vega told the Inquirer.
Instead, the corporation has been operating with a P22-billion corporate operating budget (COB) approved in 2024.
Under budget rules, income and revenues collected by government-owned corporations like the MIC must be used to cover their operating expenses.
If those funds fall short, the national government may provide subsidies, which are outlined annually in the expenditure plan.
Asked whether the MIC had sought an increase in its operating budget, Dela Vega said: “Until such time that they submit for approval a new COB, they’ll continue working on the same level COB.”
Capital outlays
In a text message, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto separately affirmed that the fund still has enough resources to sustain its 2026 investment program.
To note, the P22 billion COB of the MIC was lower than the P36.6 billion it submitted to the DBM for fiscal year 2024.
Explaining the P14 billion difference between the approved and proposed corporate budget of MIC, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman earlier said that MIC initially only requested around 60 percent of the P36.1 billion dedicated to capital outlays from its total planned spending for 2024.
Pangandaman had said that the MIC belatedly requested approval of the remaining 40-percent capital outlay, but by the time it did, the proposed COB had already been approved by the DBM together with the company’s proposed operating expenditures and investments.
Last January, the MIC made its first investment by buying a 20-percent stake in the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, the private company operating the country’s lone electricity transmission network, for P19.7 billion.
The following month, the MIC announced a $100- million investment in a billion-dollar private equity fund that it will create with Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group Co., Ltd.
The MIC also ventured into mining with a $76.4-million bridge loan to Makilala Mining Co. Inc., the local affiliate of Celsius Resources Inc.
The MIC is reportedly eyeing at least three new investments before the end of 2025.
