By Mario Casayuran
Stressing his mental prowess over physical strength, former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile offered on Saturday his wide experience and grasp on varied domestic and international issues when he rejoins the 24-member Senate through the May 2019 mid-term elections.
Former senator Juan Ponce Enrile (Credits: Wikimedia Commons | Manila Bulletin)
In a radio interview, Enrile he listed many national issues that need to be reviewed and approved by the Senate during the legislative phases in lawmaking.
The 94-year-old legislator that he is seeking a senatorial berth not for himself but for the Filipino people who are groaning under the heavy weight of high prices, among others.
He said he has studied the past three years numerous global and local issues such as the controversial Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law; the proposed expensive shift to s federal form of government; the unabated rise in the price of oil products because the country does not have oil wells; forthcoming global oil supply scarcity; peace and order; and the continued criticisms against the Duterte administration’s anti-illegal drugs campaign when it is the youth that are the victims of the multi-billion-peso drug trade.
Enrile warned that the country would be put in a bind if the shift to a federal form of government is rushed through a plebiscite in February without in-depth studies.
‘’My house is full of books and computers,’’ he said, adding that he would campaign and explain his political program through social media.
While he might still live to the age of 101 if he wins in the senatorial race and stays in the Senate for six years, Enrile stressed that he can still walk and has poor eyesight but can still read.
He said his stay in the Senate for the full six years but everything depends on the will of God.
Although he is facing trial on plunder charges along with former senators Jose ‘’Jinggoy’’ Estrada and Ramon ‘’Bong’’ Revilla Jr, Enrile said the Constitution’s Bill of Rights states that anyone is presumed innocent and the government has not proven that he is guilty.
He was the Justice Secretary of the late President Marcos.
Aside from Enrile, Estrada and Revilla have recently filed their certificates of candidacy (COCs) for the Senate at the Commission on Election (Comelec).
‘’I didn’t do anything wrong, even by my subordinates. They followed government rules. They can’t prove I and my chief of staff received (graft money),’’ he said referring to testimonies of witnesses that he claimed were ‘’taught’’ by the prosecution.
Asked whether his intention to run was to vindicate himself, Enrile said he wanted the prosecution to go ahead with the trial because he is innocent and that he has not sought help from anybody.
In seeking another Senate term, Enrile intended to run as independent but changed his mind to run under the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) banner, a party he used in his last successful senatorial bid.
The PMP was formed by former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada. Thus, he and Jinggoy are running as PMP bets.
Enrile thanked Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) for having the PMP endorse his candidacy.
Enrile said he would work with former Senators Estrada, Revilla and former senator Sergio Osmena III and Ilocos Norte governor Imee R. Marcos. ‘’I will help her. I have no enemy,’’ he added.
Enrile, then the Defense Minister of President Marcos, was one of the leaders that attempted to overthrow Marcos in 1966. The EDSA People Power accelerated Marcos’s downfall.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said the NPC’s senatorial slate would be headed by reelectionist Senator Joseph Victor ‘’JV’’ Ejercito and former senator Manuel ‘’Lito’’ Lapid.
He said the party is also studying the possibility of endorsing other candidates from other political parties and would make a formal announcement before the end of 2018.