MANILA - Albay 1st District Representative Joey Salceda said on Friday the new version of the Maharlika Investment Fund dropped the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' other controversial sources of funding and is now eyeing an initial public offering (IPO).

In an interview with ANC, Salceda said he was tasked, along with some other lawmakers, "to rewrite and re-engineer" the MIF.

Based on the new MIF, it will first be funded by surplusses from government-owned and controlled corp (GOCCs) before its listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

"Basically, it’s very new. It’s basically securitization of about P44.3 billion in annual dividends, these are real surpluses...These are dividends by GOCCs, by its nature they are already surpluses," Salceda said.

It will then be listed on the main board of the PSE, Salceda said, adding that the government would own less than 50 percent and the rest will be private.

"It will be private basically...An IPO kasi it can easily raise P1.2 trillion," the lawmaker said.

"The IPO there’s very strong demand actually…There’s so many other big investment banks that are interested in the sovereign development fund...In Davos, investors are very positive about it," he added.

Salceda said the new version is well-thought-of compared to the original version with "highly controversial" funding sources such as the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Social Security System (SSS).

The lawmaker added that this was the version "sold" by President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr in Davos, Switzerland on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

Although the House of Representatives has approved the proposal, the Senate is yet to discuss the soverign wealth fund bill.

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