MANILA – The Office of the Ombudsman was urged on Wednesday to revoke the temporary liberty that the Supreme Court granted to former senator Juan Ponce Enrile three years ago.
Enrile’s aspiration for a Senate seat in the 2019 midterm elections proves that he lied when he claimed in 2015 that he has poor health, according to Cagayan governor Manuel Mamba.
Accused of having ill-gotten wealth worth P172 million he allegedly acquired via the Priority Development Assistance Fund (“pork barrel”) scam, Enrile was allowed to post bail due to humanitarian grounds.
“Seeking a seat in the Senate necessarily entails a nationwide campaign that even a healthy person will find strenuous,” Mamba said in a letter to Ombudsman Samuel Martires. “This only proves that Juan Ponce Enrile falsely appealed to the Supreme Court’s pity to gain the relief of bail.”
The submission of the 94-year-old Enrile to next year’s elections should be sufficient basis for the Ombudsman to seek the revocation of the P1-million bail bond of the former senator, said Mamba.
“Sir, we are local leaders in Cagayan who witnessed how Juan Ponce Enrile and his minions ravaged our beloved province for 40 years, even to the extent of oppression through false charges,” said the governor.
“Juan Ponce Enrile is, and always has been, a liar and plunderer, no matter how frail he may look,” Mamba further said. “Please do not be moved by his deception. At the end of the day, he is, as he should be, made accountable for his actions.”
Enrile refused to comment on Mamba’s request and instead left it for the Ombudsman and the Supreme Court to decide.
“Si Mamba hindi ko na intindihin iyon,” he said during a forum in Quezon City. “Nang-aaway ng mga tao sa probinsya mo at walang ginawa kundi panay daldal.”
If Enrile gets elected to the Senate for the fifth time, he will be set to end his term at the age of 101 years old, and this will make him the first-ever centenarian Philippine senator./PN
