Senators warn Palace vs changing law on Maharlika Investment Fund
Senators Risa Hontiveros and Joel Villanueva (File photos from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Congress will keep a close watch on how the executive branch will implement the law creating the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) to ensure it is carried out the way Congress intended it, opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros said on Tuesday.
In a statement, Hontiveros echoed the warning made by other senators over the insistence of some finance officials that the MIF might still accept investments from the government’s pension and social welfare agencies.
“The executive branch is tasked to carry out laws that have been passed by the legislature. What Congress intended should be the standard for how the law is implemented. The executive [department] is not allowed to change, expand or limit it based on its own interpretation,” she said.
Hontiveros made the statement after Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said that pension funds held by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Social Security System (SSS), and other social welfare agencies might still be invested in the MIF despite the prohibition set by Congress.
“It is clear: the Senate’s version of the bill, which was later on adopted, orders the absolute prohibition of the use of funds of the GSIS, SSS, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), and other insurance and pension institutions,” she said.
Congress also made sure that safeguards were in place so that “the people’s money” lodged with GSIS and SSS would not be plundered, in addition to imposing a prison term on those found guilty of embezzling and misusing Maharlika funds.“The Senate will likewise exercise its oversight function to ensure that these safeguards for the protection of pensioners’ and contributors’ hard-earned money are enforced,” Hontiveros said.
Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva backed Hontiveros’ statement on the need for Congress to make sure the implementing rules and regulations “carry the true essence of the law” it had enacted.
No pension funds
“This early, we are hearing miscommunication on the Maharlika bill but at the end of the day, the law passed by Congress is clear: it had sought to secure the pension funds of our people,” he said.
Villanueva warned the executive department against any move to deviate from the intent of the law as Congress would likely exercise its oversight function.
“Whatever they want to do, they can’t deviate from the spirit of the law. They were not elected by the people to participate in debates, or change, add, or reduce the contents of this law,” he said.
But nearly a week since the final version of the measure was passed and adopted by Congress, a “clean copy” has yet to be transmitted for the President’s signature, Villanueva admitted. He said the Senate secretariat would just rectify the errors noted in the final version of the bill, adding that there was no need for rectification through a joint resolution of Congress or a formal amendment.
Villanueva was alluding to the conflicting provisions found in sections 50 and 51 of SB 2020, which imposed 10-year and 20-year prescriptions, respectively, of crimes punishable under the Maharlika law.
“I don’t want to glorify this notion that this bill was rushed, which led to the error. We are only human beings; typographical or clerical errors or erroneous numbering can happen. This is why the secretary general is looking into it,” he said.
