SENATE minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III yesterday said the only way for Congress to “rectify” the typographical and clerical errors in the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill is to recall its approval and bring it back to the plenary for reconsideration and correction.
“Congress’s imprimatur is needed to rectify the MIF. The discrepancies and ambiguities found in the approved bill cannot be corrected without the risk of falsification of legislative documents,” said Pimentel.
Pimentel was referring to what he described as “glaring errors and discrepancies” in the MIF bill that Congress ratified before it adjourned sine die on June 2.
On Wednesday, Pimentel warned his colleagues in the Senate not to allow the Senate Secretariat to “perfect” the legislation after Senate majority leader Joel Villanueva said that the measure has yet to be transmitted to Malacañang because it was still being cleaned up and corrected by staff members of the upper chamber.
The minority leader said that any bill that has been ratified by both houses of Congress cannot be touched anymore.
Doing so, he said, will be a crime of falsification since it the sole function of Congress to do such action.
He cited Article 170 of the Revised Penal Code, which prohibits falsification of legislative documents imposes a penalty of prision correccional in its maximum period and a fine not exceeding P1,200,000 upon any person who, without proper authority therefor, alters any bill, resolution, or ordinance enacted or approved or pending approval of either House of Congress or any provincial board or municipal council.
Pimentel said the different terms and prescriptive periods found on Sections 50 and 51 of the MIF bill could really be two different things, which only the senators in plenary can clarify.
“Recalling the approval of the MIF and returning it to the floor is the sole remedy left for Congress if it is to correct and clarify the discrepancies and ambiguous provisions in the MIF. There is no shortcut,” Pimentel said.
“We must take the necessary steps to rectify the errors and save the President from signing an erroneous bill into law. The consequences of the President signing a bill containing glaring errors can be significant,” he added.
By returning it to Congress, Pimentel said there will be more opportunities to fine-tune the measure and clarify ambiguities surrounding the “hastily enacted” measure.
Pimentel, however, reiterated that the bill is unsalvageable.
Villanueva earlier said that typo and clerical errors in the final version of the bill are understandable since senators finished their discussions and passed it on second and third and final reading at around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday last week. It was ratified later that day.
Former Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the approval of the proposed MIF bill can be withdrawn and reverted to plenary through a resolution to be filed by any member from the Senate or the House of Representatives or a motion on the floor when regular sessions resume on July 24.
Sotto said the proposed measure can be recalled since it is in the period of perfecting, otherwise there is a big possibility that the proposed MIF bill will be declared unconstitutional if it is brought before the Supreme Court.
