The Bayan Muna party list has filed a petition in the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to declare the Maharlika Investment Fund Act of 2023 "unconstitutional and void."
The petition was filed by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel, Bayan Muna chairman Neri Colmenares, former Congressman Carlos Isagani Zarate, and Ferdinand Gaite, claiming that the MIF is a "disaster waiting to happen."
The petitioners particularly asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order or preliminary injustice and status quo ante order to stop the implementation of said law and then conduct oral arguments.
According to petitioners, the Maharlika Investment Fund Act is a "dangerous law" that would transfer hundreds of billions of public money into a fund managed by the "untransparent Maharlika Investment Corporation," pointing to an economic environment that is tarnished by a budget deficit, a high inflation rate, and unsettling unemployment and underemployment.
It will be remembered that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the MIF into law, which the government believes will help economic growth.
Petitioners argued that lawmakers from both the House of Representatives and Senate rushed the bill after Marcos certified the measure as urgent, even in the absence of any calamity or emergency.
