Senator Aquilino Pimentel III and several militant leaders on Monday asked the Supreme Court to declare the Maharlika Investment Fund Act of 2023 as unconstitutional.

Pimentel, who was joined by former Bayan Muna partylist congressmen Neri Colmenares and Carlos Isagani Zarate as petitioners also sought a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction or a status quo ante order to stop the implementation of the law .

Named respondents were Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, the House of Representatives, and the Senate.

The petitioners argued that the MIF is void because the test of economic viability as mandated under the 1987 constitution was not complied with prior to the creation of the Maharlika Investment Corporation and it violates independence of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas under Section 20, Article XII of the constitution.

“Republic Act 11954, or the Maharlika Investment Fund Act of 2023, is a dangerous law. It entrusts hundreds of billions in public funds to unknown fund managers and an amorphous nine-member Board of Directors, six of whom remain unidentified until now,” the petition stated.

The petitioners said the Maharlika Investment Fund Act is being implemented in the midst of a budget deficit of P1.6 trillion, inflation rate of 6.1 percent, and poverty incidence of 18.1 percent in 2022 and massive unemployment and underemployment.

“And, more importantly, in a .country that has as yet, unchecked and unbridled corruption in the government. A sovereign wealth fund and un-transparent Maharlika Investment Corporation has no place in a country that is still plagued with corruption,” the petitioners said. DMS