MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE: 3:36 P.M.) — Several members of Congress and the public never got to read the final text of the Maharlika bill before it was signed into law on Tuesday, a vocal critic of the measure said, stoking worries over the adequacy of safety net provisions inserted to prevent misuse of the fund.
Bayan Muna Chairperson Neri Colmenares said in a statement Tuesday that the signing of the Maharlika bill without furnishing the public with a copy of its final version was akin to keeping the measure shrouded in “secrecy.”
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“Why did they keep the bill from the public? After all, those are taxpayers’ funds,” Colmenares said in Filipino.
“They say information on how Maharlika will spend the Php 500 Billion of public funds will be accessible and transparent. This is proof that this is hogwash! If they keep the law in secret (especially) on how they will misuse it,” Colmenares said in a mix of English and Filipino.
The final version of the Senate bill creating the MIF explicitly prohibits state-run pension funds such as the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the Social Security System (SSS), the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., the Home Development Mutual Fund, the Overseas Welfare Workers Association, and the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office from investing in Maharlika.
However, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno has also said that the SSS and GSIS can still invest in its projects.
While President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. previously assured the public that the president and finance secretary will not join the directors of the Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC) to keep politics out of its management, a Palace briefer on Maharlika -- not yet the actual copy of the law -- states that the finance secretary is the chairperson of MIC.
Senators last month ironed out a redundant provision of the bill over Viber, which Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri described as an "honest mistake by staff."
This delayed the transmittal of the MIF bill to the Malacañang for the president's approval.
Supreme Court petition, ‘inherent flaws’
Colmenares said that Bayan Muna will file a petition with the Supreme Court to “save” the P500 billion seed money from “corruption and abuse,” while another group opposing the measure, Taumbayan Ayaw sa Maharlika Fund Network Alliance (TAMA NA), said they are also in “initial talks” to challenge the law before the Supreme Court.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said in a statement that the speed at which Maharlika passed through Congress involved "unconstitutional shortcuts." The provisions of the law also had "inherent contradictions and clear confusion," Pimentel said.
He said that the Maharlika bill will "definitely" be questioned at the Supreme Court, one reason being that the bill signed by the president "was not the version passed by Congress (this we will call the "altered bill doctrine.")
Rep. Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Women’s Party) also hit the “lack of clarity and defined boundaries” in the management structure of the MIF, saying that this can lead to “unchecked discretion and absolute decision-making.”
Meanwhile, TAMA NA Convenor David San Juan said the president's assurances of the fund and its potential investment returns "mean nothing" due to prior warnings from economists about the inherent flaws of the president’s pet measure.
“Given its management structure, TAMA NA expects the fund to do badly. It is possible that favored corporations linked to dynasties will get a huge chunk of investments from MIF,” San Juan added.
Rep. Edcel Lagman (Albay) previously said that while he opposed the creation of the Maharlika Investment Fund, "congressional wisdom and expediency are not justiciable issues before the Supreme Court."