MIF tampering may reach SC – Koko

MANILA, Philippines — The “tampering” of the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill by the Senate majority is one more reason for critics of the measure to contest its constitutionality before the Supreme Court, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said yesterday.

In an interview with dzBB radio, Pimentel said his colleagues’ resorting to shortcuts to fix errors and conflicting provisions in the bill was unconstitutional and should be challenged before the high tribunal before the measure becomes law.

“It just added to the constitutional arguments that could be made against the bill, which was tampered with after the plenary action. That is not the constitutional way to change the bill,” Pimentel said in Filipino.

In the bill adopted by Congress, the Senate majority allowed the merging of Sections 50 and 51, which gave different periods for prescription of crimes and offenses, and retained the prescription period of 10 years – not 20 – to reflect the debates on the plenary. At this stage, the Senate secretariat is only allowed to make style changes like in grammar or spelling.

It was the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Mark Villar, who reportedly wrote to the Senate leadership to request for corrections in the enrolled bill, which was later signed by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri during a working visit to Washington earlier this week.

“The solution is to formally remedy it the right way. Not through shortcuts done by the majority as if they were in a friends’ group,” Pimentel said, as he noted the “extra effort” of the Senate leadership to send the enrolled bill to the US for Zubiri’s signature.

Pimentel, a former Senate president himself, also scored the way the amendment was made by administration senators. Zubiri earlier admitted the changes “were thoroughly discussed by the majority bloc in our Viber group, including the letter of correction sent by Sen. Mark Villar.”

Pimentel and opposition colleague Sen. Risa Hontiveros were not part of the Viber group.

The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives earlier slammed the Senate majority for its “legislation by Viber.”

The President’s sister Sen. Imee Marcos, meanwhile, made a turnabout and called on the public to support the MIF measure.

“I won’t comment anymore about the legalities. I abstained from voting because I thought it was premature. But the ending is, it will become a law. Let us just help the administration to rectify its errors,” Marcos said in Filipino during a press conference on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda has squelched rumors she would be replacing Zubiri, saying the current Senate leader has the qualification and competence to lead the chamber.

“Why would you fix something that’s not broken? What’s that saying, if it ain’t broke, why fix something?” Legarda said in an interview with Senate reporters.

“Sen. Migz (Zubiri) is very amiable, always smiling even when he is very tired. And I think it really suits him as a Senate worker. You should see how he works. He is very hardworking,” said Legarda. “We even have a Viber thread, small group.”

“He is very approachable to all the senators and I said I don’t know how you can take all the stress. I’ve not seen him not smiling,” she added. — Cecille Suerte Felipe, Diana Lhyd Suelto