DOJ: Maharlika Investment Corp. independent director must be Filipino citizen

LEGAL OPINION

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. cannot appoint foreign nationals to become independent directors of the Maharlika Investment Corporation (MIC), according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

In a 7-page legal opinion penned by Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez, the DOJ said it believes that independent directors of MIC must be citizens of the country in order to be eligible, citing several provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

“It is significant to note that above-quoted provisions of the Constitution is clear and unequivocal that with the requirement of utmost and undivided allegiance to the State and the Constitution, only Filipino citizens may become public officers and employees of the Philippine government,” it said.

“On the contrary, a foreign national does not owe any allegiance to the Philippines and its Constitution. Hence, we are of the opinion that a foreign nationals cannot be legally appointed by the President as an independent director,” it added.

The Justice Department issued the legal opinion upon the request of Senior Undersecretary and Head Presidential Management Staff Elaine Masukat on whether a foreign nationals or a dual citizen may be appointed by the president.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department said that a natural-born Filipino citizen with dual citizenship at birth may be appointed as an independent director without needing to renounce his foreign citizenship.

Aside from this, the DOJ said that a natural-born Filipino citizen who was naturalized in another country and later re-acquired Filipino citizenship may also be appointed, provided that he or she complies with the requirements imposed by the Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act of 2023 and the rules and regulations of the Civil Service Commission.

In December 2023, four directors of the MIC took their oaths before Marcos.

These were long-time Asian Development Bank (ADB) officer Vicky Castillo Tan, Andrew Jerome Gan, German Lichauco, and Roman Felipe Reyes.

Marcos signed into law the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) Act of 2023 in July, with the aim of tapping state assets for investment ventures to generate additional public funds.

The law creates the MIC, a government-owned company that will manage the MIF — a pool of funds sourced from state-run financial institutions that will be invested in high-impact projects, real estate, as well as in financial instruments. —VAL, GMA Integrated News