Quick Read
- BIR’s RMC No. 111-2026, dated September 30, 2026, adds an Aggressive semiconductor equity fund from Manulife Investment Management and Trust Corporation to the tax-exempt PERA feeder fund product list.
- The last two PERA circulars, covering three funds in all, added only Aggressive feeder funds, after January’s list of peso money market, bond and index-tracking funds.
- PERA contributors reached 30,055 by June 30, 2026, up from 6,193 a year earlier, and 23,529 of them are self-employed.
- The exemption applies to income from any accredited product, so it gives no protection against losses in a single-sector fund.
- The circular states no fee, so the cost of the PERA version is not in the document that made it eligible.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue has placed a single-sector equity fund inside the country’s tax-exempt retirement account. RMC No. 111-2026, dated September 30, 2026, lists the Manulife Global Semiconductor Opportunities Equity PERA Feeder Fund as an approved product under the Personal Equity and Retirement Account program. Its risk profile is Aggressive, and it arrives while self-employed savers are the fastest-growing group in the program.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas notified BIR of the accreditation in a letter dated September 11, 2026. The circular names the trust entity, Manulife Investment Management and Trust Corporation, and describes the product as a peso-denominated equity feeder fund. It says nothing about fees, holdings or the fund it feeds into.
The PERA Feeder Fund Shelf Has Turned Aggressive
Three circulars this year trace the shift. RMC No. 3-2026 added four EastWest Banking Corporation peso funds, a money market fund, two bond funds and a PSEi tracker. RMC No. 74-2026 added two ATRAM Trust Corporation feeder funds, both Aggressive, that invest in Luxembourg-domiciled funds from Fidelity and BlackRock. RMC No. 111-2026 adds one more Aggressive feeder.
| Circular | Dated | BSP letter | Trust entity | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RMC No. 3-2026 | January 12, 2026 | October 14, 2025 | EastWest Banking Corporation | Four peso funds |
| RMC No. 74-2026 | July 6, 2026 | June 4, 2026 | ATRAM Trust Corporation | Two Aggressive feeder funds |
| RMC No. 111-2026 | September 30, 2026 | September 11, 2026 | Manulife Investment Management and Trust Corporation | One Aggressive feeder fund |
The last two circulars listed only Aggressive PERA feeder fund products. Accreditation is what makes a product eligible for the exemption, so each PERA UITF approval opens a retirement-money channel for the trust entity behind it. BIR dated its circular 32 days after BSP’s letter for ATRAM and 19 days after for Manulife. BIR’s records division stamped the Manulife circular received on October 21, 2026, 21 days after its date.
The Tax Exemption Does Not Price the Risk
The circular repeats the rule in RMC No. 74-2026. Only income from investing PERA assets in products approved by the concerned regulator is exempt from income tax, under Rule 11 of the rules implementing Republic Act No. 9505 and Section 9 of Revenue Regulations No. 17-2011. Income from PERA assets in government securities is exempt too. Approval decides eligibility and risk plays no part, so the PERA tax exemption treats a money market fund and a PERA feeder fund alike.
The exemption covers income. It offers nothing against a fall in the price of the units, and a single-sector fund can fall in any year.
Manulife’s published disclosures describe the regular, non-PERA version of the fund. They put the whole portfolio in one target fund, the Global Semiconductor Opportunities Fund under Manulife’s Global Fund umbrella, whose holdings were just under 70 percent semiconductors on December 31, 2025. The disclosure calls the fund suitable for investors classified at least Aggressive and recommends staying invested for at least five years. Its brochure lists a trust fee of 1.75 percent per annum and a ₱1,000 minimum. The circular does not say whether the PERA version charges the same. It also names the trust entity and not the second fund that sits between the saver and the chip stocks. The sector concentration and the five-year horizon live in Manulife’s disclosure. The circular carries the tax language and the Aggressive label, and little else.
In a July statement, Manulife said the regular version led the equity feeder fund category in first-half UITF rankings. A first-half ranking says what the fund did, not what it will do.
Self-Employed Savers Are the Fastest-Growing Group
BSP data show 30,055 PERA contributors as of June 30, 2026, up 385 percent from 6,193 a year earlier. Self-employed savers drove the jump, rising to 23,529 from 942. They account for ₱207.9 million of the program’s total, about ₱8,800 per contributor. A year earlier the group totaled ₱74.29 million across 942 contributors, about ₱78,900 each. Contributors grew about twenty-five-fold while the total nearly tripled, so the average fell about ninefold. Employee contributors, at 5,441, account for ₱449.45 million, about ₱82,600 each.
The fastest-growing group has about a tenth of the employee average. A saver with ₱8,800 in a single-sector fund has little room to absorb a bad year. If the PERA version carries the regular version’s 1.75 percent trust fee, ₱8,800 would cost about ₱154 a year before any return. The circular and BSP’s enrollment figures do not show which funds those new enrollees choose. The two trends meet only on the shelf. The newest PERA feeder fund is aggressive, and the fastest-growing saver group is the one with the smaller totals.
Providers Gain the Channel and Savers Carry the Loss
The gain is distribution. A tax-exempt label gives Manulife’s trust entity a way to compete for retirement money, and the fund behind a feeder receives the money by design. The cost is not charged by the circular. It lands on the saver as price swings and as whatever fee the PERA version carries, which the circular leaves out.
RMC No. 111-2026 gives Manulife’s trust entity a tax-exempt retirement channel for a semiconductor fund. Money placed in a feeder fund goes into the fund behind it, and the price swings come back to the saver who bought the units, whatever the tax label says. The circular that made the sale possible states no fee. What moves next is the PERA feeder fund shelf, and the next BSP letter will show whether another Aggressive one follows.
Stay ahead of the cost structures, capital flows, and market recalibrations that shape Philippine business in Business & Money section of Hemos PH.
