I join Senior Deputy Majority Leader Sandro Marcos in effectively urging that the Maharlika Sovereign Wealth Fund bill should not be fast-tracked.

The Maharlika proposal must pass the furnace of exhaustive legislative debates and searching scrutiny.

Fast-tracking for “record” breaking objectives will be counterproductive as errors and pitfalls are bound to infest a statute which is enacted with ordinate alacrity.  

Overwhelming issues beset the Maharlika proposals like its fiscal propriety, economic timeliness, legal constraints, protection of pensioners’ and depositors’ benefits, excessive emoluments and allowances of officials, precipitate investments, tax exemptions, and magnet for corruption. 

These issues must be totally ventilated not only in the Congress but also in extensive consultations with the affected public and the concerned multi-sectoral groups.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN