AT every foreign trip, and there are many of them, the President pushes Maharlika and invites foreign investors and says they are interested. Let me be frank; as presently constituted, no serious foreign investor will come in. Perhaps as a favor or as some quid pro quo, but not on the merits. Not because it is bad, but because right now the Maharlika Investment Fund does not operationally exist, so there is nothing to judge. Beyond that, there are many open issues on structure and governance that must be addressed to their satisfaction before any serious consideration can be made.

In a constructive spirit as this seems to be a priority and point of pride for the President, I am outlining some points that must be addressed if he wants foreign investors to take this seriously rather than just be polite and say the equivalent of 'we will look at it' and do nothing. At least from funds with standard governance and due diligence standards.