THEY have proven the dictum right one more time: Old habits die hard. After all, the habit had been nurtured for 21 years, including 14 under martial law.
The so-called Maharlika Investment Fund, named after the bogus World War II guerilla outfit of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was a brainchild of Marcos Jr. Its passage in Congress was railroaded by Marcos minions.
The approval of the presidential confidential and intelligence funds, as well as that of the Vice President – hugely scandalous in these times of mass poverty and want – was likewise a conspiratorial spectacle.
The Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) urges all Filipino democrats to be vigilant, make their voices heard, and join protest actions as Congress deliberates the proposed national budget for 2024.
For one, the shameless transfer of P125 million as confidential fund from the office of the President to the office of the Vice President in 2022 — unconstitutional and therefore illegal because there was no corresponding line item budget appropriation for the Office of the Vice President in the 2022 General Appropriations Act — are glaring red flags.
We join calls to abolish these confidential and intelligence funds which are beyond audit scrutiny and are being used to fund state violence and repression. Instead, these must be reallocated for basic social services such as health, housing, and education, and in the budget of the Commission on Human Rights to allow it to exercise its mandate of investigating human rights violations as well as providing financial assistance and reparations for victims of rights violations.
On top of this, CARMMA demands that the Marcoses, rather than gamble away people’s money with their so-called Maharlika Investment Fund, must pay their P203 billion worth of estate tax dues and penalties.
We condemn the emerging pattern to dismiss graft and corruption cases against the Marcoses. This includes the dismissal by the Supreme Court of the P1.05 billion ill-gotten wealth case and the dismissal by the Sandiganbayan of three civil cases for the billions of stolen assets, funds and properties.
The people have not forgotten. – CARMMA (Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law)
