Senator Chiz Escudero (Senate PRIB)


Practical politics dictate that President Ferdinand ‘’Bongbong’’ Marcos Jr. will ignore Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III's appeal for him to veto the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) Bill. "This is obvious. Pimentel belongs to the two-member Senate minority bloc," said Senator Francis ‘’Chiz’’ Escudero in a DWIZ radio interview Saturday, June 3. Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri led the Senate majority bloc in approving the bill with a majority vote. Escudero and two other senators - Pimentel and Imee Marcos - were absent during rhe voting last Tuesday. He said he could have voted had there been a certification of economic viability of the measure. Pimentel, a bar topnotcher, emphasized that ‘’The bill in its current form is not acceptable. I am calling on the President to exercise his veto power and return the measure to Congress.’’ This is for rectification, he said. The former Senate President stressed that ‘’If not vetoed, the MIF, in its current form, could not withstand the scrutiny of the Supreme Court (SC)." The authorized capital stock of MIF is P500 billion, including investments from the private sector. Some P50 billion will go to the MIF from the three percent investible funds of Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP). Escudero also corrected the President who had said it is up to the boards of the Social Security System (SSS) and Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and other government agencies if they want to invest in MIF. He said the President might not have been briefed that the Senate version of the MIF Bill,  which also adopted by the House of Representatives, contained an absolute prohibition on pension agencies investing with the MIF. ‘’Sa tingin ko, oo (I think so),’ Escudero replied to a query whether the Office of the Solicitor General would have difficulty defending the MIF measure once it reaches the courts. ‘’Kaya nga may trabaho ang abogado depende na lang gaano kagaling ang abogado (Lawyers always have work to do depending on how good they are),’’ he pointed out. On the issue raised by Pimentel that the certification of the MIF bill as ‘’urgent’’ was unconstitutional because there was no emergency or calamity existing, Escudero  thinks otherwise. ‘’Ang diskresyon ng Pangulo para sabihin ano ang kalamidad o emergency ay medyo malawak sa ilalim ng saligang batas (Under the Constitution, the discretion of the President to certify a bill because of an existing emergency or calamity alone is wide). Base sa aming pagbabasa walang naglimita sa kapangyarihang mamili kung ano ang icecertify o hindi (Based on our reading, nothing limits the President from exercising his powers which bill to certify or not),’’ he added.