A PETITION has been filed in the Supreme Court assailing the constitutionality of the Maharlika Investment Fund Act of 2023 or Republic Act 11954.
The petition was filed by Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel, Bayan Muna chair Neri Colmenares, and former Bayan Muna representatives Carlos Zarate and Ferdinand Gaite.
In the petition, they asked to high court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) or preliminary injunction or status quo ante order to stop immediately the implementation of RA 11954, and to conduct oral arguments on the matter.
The respondents were Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, the House of Representatives, and the Senate.
According to the petition, “RA 11954 is void because it was passed in violation of Section 26 (2), Article VI, of the 1987 Constitution; the test of economic viability as mandated under Section 16, Article XII of the Constitution was not complied with prior to the creation of the Maharlika Investment Corporation; and RA 11954 violates the independence of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as provided for under Section 20, Article XII of the Constitution.”
The petitioners argued that the presidential certification of the Maharlika bill as urgent in the House of Representatives and Senate did not comply with the constitutional requirement, and it “therefore did not become a law.”
“The Maharlika Investment Fund Act of 2023 therefore requires intense congressional scrutiny, genuine consultation with stakeholders, and a careful study by independent economic experts,” the petitioners said.
“Both Houses of Congress, however, went on the opposite direction and rushed the Maharlika bills and short-circuited the constitutionally mandated legislative processes, through an unnecessary and constitutionally infirm Presidential certification of urgency,” it added.
“Republic Act 11954, or the Maharlika Investment Fund Act of 2023, is a dangerous law. It entrusts hundreds of billions in public funds to unknown fund managers and an amorphous nine-member Board of Directors, six of whom remain unidentified until now,” the petition said.
“This, in the midst of a budget deficit of P1.6 trillion (2022), inflation rate of 6.1 percent (2022), poverty incidence of 18.1 percent, and massive unemployment and underemployment among our people,” it said.
“And, more importantly, in a country that has as yet, unchecked and unbridled corruption in the government. A sovereign wealth fund and un-transparent Maharlika Investment Corporation has no place in a country that is still plagued with corruption,” it added.
The petition was filed by Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel, Bayan Muna chair Neri Colmenares, and former Bayan Muna representatives Carlos Zarate and Ferdinand Gaite.
