Enrile critics unimpressed

Juan Ponce Enrile’s critics were unimpressed with his resignation as Senate president yesterday, with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV issuing some of the harshest remarks.

“What I heard were merely the rants of a bitter man. It’s more theatrical than anything else,” Trillanes said. “It’s not a graceful exit. It was inevitable that he would be replaced. The people won’t be fooled by propaganda. They can see through the smokescreen.”

Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, who also engaged Enrile in a heated debate last January, said that the resignation did not answer questions on how Enrile liquidated the P250,000 cash gifts that he gave the senators in December last year.

Cayetano said that it was sad to see an elderly man with a high stature in society resigning from his post on the last day of the 15th Congress.

But Cayetano added, “If the Senate President wanted to clear his name of the issue Ð because he said that the Senate funds became an issue Ð the solution is not to resign but to face it directly. Until now the documents have not yet been released.”

Cayetano said Enrile should not blame other senators for the loss of his son Jack Enrile, a senatorial candidate of the United Nationalist Alliance, in the May 13 elections.

“By resigning, he has not answered the issue. In fact, there are now more questions than answers,” Cayetano said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Enrile was disappointed with the negative public perceptions of the Senate as an institution, which arose from attacks against him by his critics.

“It all started with the personal attacks against him. His son was also affected by this and unfortunately (Jack) did not win,” Lacson said. “He has reason to feel bad. Before the COA (Commission on Audit) and other venues, he defended the Senate. This was not a shortcoming on the part of the Office of the Senate President but a shortcoming on the part of the individual senators.”

Sen. Franklin Drilon, the presumptive Senate president in the 16th Congress, did not want to speculate on the reasons why Enrile decided to resign at this point with just two session days left in the 15th Congress.

“Maybe he wanted to emphasize certain things... some things he believes in,” Drilon said.