SEN. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada yesterday said agreed with the pronouncements of Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III that “something’s not right” when the Senate leadership allowed members of the Senate Secretariat to “correct” the ratified version of the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill.
“Ako, if you may call me as a veteran senator, what I understand is that you cannot alter even a period, not even a comma. ‘Yun ang pagkakaintindi ko…Kahit na pinakamaliit na comma, hindi puwedeng galawin at baka umiba ang content, ‘yung thought (If you consider me as a veteran senator, what I understand is that you cannot alter even a period, not even a comma. That is to my understanding… Even the smallest comma, you cannot touch it as it may change the content, the thought [of the measure]),” Estrada said at the Kapihan sa Seando media forum.
Pimentel has repeatedly said that only senators, in plenary session, can do corrections in any measure that has been previously ratified or approved by the chamber.
He has likewise cited a provision in the Revised Penal Code which penalizes unelected members of Congress who “tamper” with approved bills with the crime of “falsification of a legislative document.”
Estrada made the remark amid Pimentel’s insistence that the MIF bill be returned to the Senate plenary for the proper and legal corrections and after Senate Secretary Renato Bantug admitted that the Senate Secretariat made the necessary corrections on the clerical and typographical errors of the approved measure.
Bantug specifically said that Section 50 and 51 of the proposed measure were merged by members of the Senate Secretariat for “economy of words” since they both have the same meaning. The approved bill had two conflicting sections on the prescription periods for crimes or offenses in the MIF.
Section 50 had a prescription period of 10 years for crimes, while Section 51 calls for a prescription period of 20 years for offenses.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri has explained that the corrections were well discussed among members of the majority bloc in their Viber group.
Estrada, who belongs to the majority bloc in the Senate, said he is a member of the Viber group chat but could not remember reading the messages.
He said he was not consulted on the corrections to be made on the approved measure and stood firm on his position that measures passed on third and final reading cannot be altered outside of plenary.
“Parang hindi yata tama. If they adopted the Senate version, ano itong binago nila? They should stick to the decision of the bicam (Something seems not be right. If they adopted the Senate version, then what was it that they changed? They should stick to the decision of the bicam),” he said.
When asked if the approved measure can be recalled, he said he is leaving it to the wisdom of Zubiri.
Estrada said the Senate can heed the advice of former Senate President Franklin Drilon to just file an amendatory bill to make the necessary amendments to the measure once it is signed by President Marcos Jr.
He said people who are interested in questioning the constitutionality of the corrected bill can bring the matter to the Supreme Court.
