Senator Francis Escudero has urged both opponents and supporters to monitor its progress as the Maharlika Investment Fund waits for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to sign a new law establishing it.
Escudero stated in an interview that people who are not pleased with MIF should keep an eye on its development, while those who are may also attentively watch it and implore the detractors to give it a chance to thrive.
He explained that because the MIF is currently regarded as an enrolled bill, it will become law until the President vetoes it and sends it back to the Senate.
Escudero, a lawyer, acknowledged being taken aback by the MIF's quick passage in the Senate at two in the morning last Wednesday, after a protracted discussion that began on Tuesday.
He claimed he left home earlier than expected, assuming they would return to cast their votes the following morning.
Like him, Sen. Imee Marcos and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III were absent from the plenary as the bill was being voted on to become law.
Sen. Nancy Binay refrained from voting, but Sens. Risa Hontiveros and 19 other senators supported it.
Escudero recalled having expressed disapproval of the lack of a "test on economic viability," a criterion set down in the Constitution, in the legislation establishing government-owned and controlled businesses (GOCC).
He said that the "test on economic viability" is a document that would include precise information on the MIF's projected earnings in its capacity as a GOCC.
He noted that the numerous GOCC bankruptcies in the past, which affected taxpayers, led to the inclusion of this condition in the 1987 Constitution.
The document's goal is to prevent the corporation from filing for bankruptcy.
Escudero stated that the MIF submission was not a thorough analysis of economic viability but rather a commercial plan.
He noted the substantial debts of GOCCs at that time, recalling the circumstances surrounding the drafting of the 1987 Constitution, saying: "GOCCs had about P26 billion to P27 billion in debts when the government's national funds were only P117 billion."
Meanwhile, Escudero asserted that the 1987 Constitution omits a definition of the distinction between the test of feasibility and the test of economic viability, but he added that the Supreme Court could be asked to clarify the matter.
