JUNK IT Bayan Muna chair Neri Colmenares (center) and former Bayan Muna Representatives Carlos Isagani Zarate (right) and Ferdinand Gaite show to reporters copies of the petition they filed in Supreme Court to declare the Maharlika Investment Fund Act of 2023 unconstitutional. (File photo from RICHARD A. REYES)
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s order for agencies to restudy plans related to the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) only shows the law is incomplete and done in haste.
Bayan Muna chairperson and former lawmaker Neri Colmenares made the statement on Thursday, adding that he hopes that the Supreme Court (SC) will look at the directive to review Republic Act No. 11954 or the MIF law.
“The Office of the President’s reason for stopping the MIF’s implementation is to ‘further study the plan’ — meaning it was rushed and half-baked,” he said.
“It would be better if it is scrapped now before more taxpayer’s money is wasted on this endeavor,” he suggested.
“Maharlika must be scrapped and not suspended as we cannot risk the loss of PhP 500 billion in public funds in the midst of huge budget deficits and budget cuts in social services,” he explained.
A petition seeking a temporary restraining order against the MIF and eventually declaring it unconstitutional is pending before SC.
Colmenares was one of the four petitioners who filed it on September 18.
On Wednesday, it was announced that Malacañang had released a memorandum suspending the drafting of the implementing rules and regulation of the law.
It ordered government agencies to examine the plans once more.
READ: Marcos suspends Maharlika fund implementation
But in his speech before flying to Saudi Arabia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – Gulf Cooperation Council Summit, Marcos said he was surprised by news reports that MIF was suspended.
According to the Chief Executive, they did not put the MIF on hold, as they have only tried to incorporate discovered improvements.
“I was a bit alarmed by the news reports early this morning that I read in the newspapers that we have put the Maharlika Fund on hold,” he said in a speech.
“Quite the contrary,” he clarified.
“We are, the organization of the Maharlika Fund proceeds apace, and what I have done though, is that we have found more improvements we can make,” Marcos said.
The President also said the move should not be misinterpreted as a judgment of MIF’s correctness or wrongness.
READ: Bongbong Marcos says Maharlika Investment Fund pushes through
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