Zubiri: No sinister move to tamper with Maharlika Bill

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Thursday refuted allegations of "tampering" with the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill, saying the measure that he signed reflected the true intent of Congress.

“There's no such thing as tampering. There was never a plan to tamper. There was no sinister move to tamper the measure. There’s no tampering that took place. We just want to put on record that we just reflected the true intention of the provisions as reflected on the transcript of records,” Zubiri said at Kapihan sa Senado Thursday.

“The enrolled bill, ‘yung pinirmahan ko sa Washington DC, is the truthful reflection of the intent of the members of Congress. A true reflection of the transcript of records,” he added.

Last week, Zubiri signed the MIF bill despite issues on double provisions in the prescriptive period.

The Senate president explained that the copy of the MIF bill which has inconsistent provisions on prescriptive period is “a draft [and] not a final enrolled bill.”

He tagged this as an “honest oversight by the staff and the secretariat.”

To address this, Zubiri mentioned a letter from Senator Mark Villar, the sponsor of the MIF bill, that the prescriptive period should be under a single section. This is a usual process in legislation, he added.

“There was no malice or intent or ill intent to tamper as they are saying or amend the measure as long as it is not an enrolled bill, subject to style… that gives the secretariat the power to look and adjust the periods… the wordings,” he said. 

The Senate version of the bill, which was eventually adopted by the House of Representatives, included two sections on the prescriptive period.

The draft bill passed on the Senate floor provides a 10-year prescriptive period for crimes punishable under the measure, while another section in the same bill provides for a 20-year prescriptive period.

But this has already been fixed by merging the two sections and retaining the 10-year period for prescription, Senate Secretary Renato Bantug Jr. said in a previous phone interview.

The merging of sections, which essentially dropped the 20-year prescriptive period, was based on the transcript of the Senate deliberations on the bill, according to Bantug.

Several senators, including Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Senator Francis Escudero, and Senator Risa Hontiveros, assert that the bill should be sent back to the Senate plenary in order for lawmakers to fix it.

After Zubiri’s signing of the measure, Pimentel slammed the “tampering” of the bill and warned President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. against signing the MIF Bill, saying there is a "high chance" that it is unconstitutional.

“The enrolled bill being sent to him is not the version properly and formally approved by Congress. Meron provision po dyan na ginalaw (There is a provision there that was changed) without plenary authority. Malaking tsansa na unconstitutional ang Maharlika Law (There’s a high chance that Maharlika Law is unconstitutional),” Pimentel said in a previous statement.

The MIF seeks the creation of a sovereign wealth fund that the government can use to make investments. The bill was certified urgent by Marcos.

Last week, the President said he would immediately sign the MIF bill into law once it reaches his office, noting that management will be the key to its success. —VAL, GMA Integrated News