THE Supreme Court has rejected the petition filed by the Makabayan bloc representatives seeking to declare unconstitutional President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s certification of the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund Bill as an urgent measure.
This was learned on Thursday after the Makabayan bloc filed an 11-page motion for reconsideration of the Court’s decision of February 28, 2023.
A copy of the resolution was received by petitioners on April 25, 2023, and they were informed that the Court dismissed their petition after they “failed to present to Court with any fact establishing the existence of an actual case or controversy ripe for adjudication.”
“Colmenare et al.’s mere allegation of unconstitutionality of the President’s certification of House Bill 6608 and the passage of the bill by the House are not sufficient to warrant review by the Court,” the SC ruling stated.
“They have not established any controversy of legal rights nor adduced any sufficient or concrete facts to enable the Court to intelligently adjudicate the issues presented. In fact, by their own admission, the Senate has yet to act on the counterpart bill of HB 6608. To date, no law has been passed and HB 6608 remains pending with the House for further revisions, eliminating petitioner legislators’ concerns regarding the expedited passage of HB 6608 in the House,” it added.
Without an actual case or controversy ripe for adjudication, the Court said, it has no reason to rule on the merits of the “premature petition.”
Bayan Muna chairperson Neri Colmenares, former Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, ACT Teachers party-list group Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Women’s party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas and Raoul Manuel of Kabataan party-list are the petitioners in the case.
They named Marcos, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and the House of Representatives as respondents in the petition.
In their May 10, 2023 motion for reconsideration of the Court’s ruling, the petitioners insisted that the issues raised in their petition are already ripe for adjudication due to consummated acts of the respondents.
These include the issuance of the certification of calamity or emergency to the House Representatives for the immediate passage of HB 6608; and the House, acting on such presidential certification or urgency, approved HB 6608 on third reading on the same date that the bill was approved on second reading, in violation of the three readings on separate days rule.
Petitioners said their petition had clearly pointed out that the issuance of a certification of calamity and emergency violated Section 26 (2) of the Constitution because there is no calamity or emergency that warrants immediate enactment of the Maharlika bill.
“By the foregoing consumed and completed actions, the facts are already sufficient to judicially determine whether or not there has been grave abuse of discretion on the part of the President and the lower House in certifying a bill urgent when there is no calamity or emergency being addressed,” the petitioners argued.
Likewise, petitioners said their case is already ripe for adjudication since they are questioning the process of law-making.
“This Honorable Court could now rule the presidential certification void and order the return of the Maharlika bill to the House of Representatives for deliberation but this time, following the constitutionally required legislative process,” the petitioners insisted.
In the main petition, the petitioners said there was no public emergency nor calamity to justify presidential certification of the controversial measure as urgent.
Under Article VI, Section 26 (2) of the 1987 Constitution, a bill becomes a law only if it passes three readings on three separate days, except if Malacanang certifies it as an urgent measure.
The haste in the bill’s certification as urgent became apparent when there was no similar certification of its counterpart bill in the Senate.
This only proves, they said, the absence of the public emergency or calamity to warrant such certification.
The word “public emergency” or “calamity” was never mentioned in the certification to the House, they added.
To recall, the House passed in December 2022 House Bill No. 6608 or the Maharlika Investment Fund Act on third and final reading with 279 yes votes, six no votes and zero abstention.
Malacanang had certified the measure as urgent, paving the way for its second and third reading approvals on the same day.