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Enrile resigns as chair of committee of the whole


MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Monday resigned as chairman of the Senate committee of the whole, which is hearing the ethics complaint against Senator Manuel Villar Jr. “As I said in my speech, I resign and I leave my fate to my colleagues. It’s up to them to decide," Enrile said after the session adjourned. Asked what he will do if senators ask him to stay in the committee, Enrile replied: “I will not speculate." The Senate President’s resignation from the committee of the whole stemmed from a word ward between him and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr on the alleged unfair handling of the proceedings on the ethics complaint. In his privilege speech Monday, Enrile dared Pimentel and the minority to chair the committee of the whole. "You’re welcome to it, I would gladly give in to any one of you especially to the senator from Cagayan de Oro. I would resign as chair of the committee of the whole after this speech if that is the wish of the minority and I will nominate the senator from Cagayan de Oro to head it because I think that is the thrust of their attack. "Or perhaps the senator from Cagayan de Oro and his co-petitioners who had accused me of being a dictator would like to nominate someone else? Why don’t you say so frankly before the people before your peers if that is what you want, so you can adopt all the rules to exonerate anyone you want to exonerate?" he said. In the speech, Enrile called Pimentel a coward, hypocrite, traitor and backstabber. "Pardon me for saying this directly to your face, Mr. Senator from Cagayan de Oro. Hipokrito ka! Nagkukunwari ka na kaibigan mo ako ngunit pagwala ka na sa harap ko, sinasaksak mo ako. Alam ko na hindi ganyan ang mga taga Cagayan de Oro na mga kababayan mo. Ikaw, iba ka. Hindi ka lalaking makipag-usap. May pagka-traidor ka," a fuming Enrile said. [You are a hypocrite! You treat me as your friend when you are in front of me but once I turn my back, you start backstabbing me. I know that the people of Cagayan de Oro are not like that. But you are different. You do not talk like a man. You are a traitor.] Enrile said he took the floor to answer the accusations and personal attacks hurled against him reportedly made by Pimentel. He said that he never challenged Pimentel to a shooting war. "Assuming that in his perception, I am a gunslinger, which I am not, I will not waste a bullet on him. A bullet is too expensive for a coward," Enrile said. He said by repeating references to martial law, Pimentel seemed suffering from an incurable paranoia over martial law. He said he cannot blame Pimentel, Senators Joker Arroyo and Benigno Simeon Aquino III, their families and those who suffered injustices as a result of the excesses and abuses committed under the Marcos regime. However, he cannot see the connection between his participation in the implementation of martial law and the proceedings of the committee of the whole. “But what does martial law have to do with the proceedings of the Committee of the Whole? The proceedings so far done in the Villar ethics case were done in accordance with parliamentary rules," Enrile said. He said the proposals from the minority block to amend the published rules of the Ethics Committee were done through voting. “Some proposals of the minority block were adopted and some were rejected by votes of the Senators present. If that is not democracy, then I do not know what democracy is," Enrile said. He said Pimentel may be referring to the fact that he failed to have his way in the committee of the whole. “Over the years, he was so used to have his way in the Senate because very few dared to tangle with him. That was why he developed some sort of intellectual arrogance that he now displays,’" Enrile said. He said Pimentel’s behavior had been tolerated in the past but he will not tolerate it now. “I am sorry for you. Know that for as long as I am the Senate President, your antics will not be tolerated anymore in this Senate, no matter how loud you shout the words “authoritarian," “despotic," “dictator" or other derogatory epithets against me," Enrile said. He added that he is sick and tired of Pimentel’s hypocrisy and duplicity. “I do not want hypocrites to call me “Manong" or “friend." I want to call a spade a spade. No pretensions, Mr. Senator from Cagayan de Oro," Enrile said. He said Pimentel called him a dictator “because he cannot bend me to follow his bidding for his “client" who is the respondent in the Ethics case." I repeat, he is acting more as a lawyer for the respondent than an impartial member of the Committee. Senator Villar should pay him his fees. He denies this, of course. But my impression is different based on his actuations in and out of the proceedings. He uses his Ciceronian and Websterian skills to protect and promote the interest of the respondent in the ethics case. For what reason, only God knows," Enrile said. He said the bottom line of the “tricks" of the minority bloc is to “desperately prevent the submission of evidence against respondent Villar." Pimentel, in a privilege speech to answer Enrile, insisted that the issues the minority bloc raised were intended to find adequate action so that the rules of the Senate committee of the whole will be fair “and that no abuse of the rights of the respondent or any senator or any other person would come." He said that he is not a backstabber. “Far from it (stabbing Enrile in the back) because I could not say when they were interviewing me that wait lang hanapin ko muna si Sen. Enrile before I say that baka magalit yun when I say it behind his back," Pimentel said. “This is a free society and people have many forums now unlike the time when Mr. Enrile was Minister of National Defense, when people who spoke out could be jailed without any cause or disappear from the face of the earth because precious bullets have been spent to end the lives of the opposition," he added. He said he does not consider Enrile as an enemy but opponents or antagonists in a democratic forum. He said all he is asking from Enrile is for them to listen to each other. Pimentel said he is not a lawyer of Villar but only raising questions about the propriety of the rules that should be apply fairly, “not only to Mr. Villar but to another senator who might somehow find their way in the proceedings before the committee of the whole." He said if Enrile would call him Villar’s lawyer, he would call Enrile Villar’s prosecutor and judge at the same time “which are incompatible positions. I said this because of the rules that we are questioning. My criticisms are not against the person of Mr. Enrile but about the way he was handling the proceedings like a dictator." “Apparently, he does not want to hear that word dictator because that is associated with him during the martial law. But that is a matter of fact, not in invention of Cicero or Webster," the senator said. “He (Enrile) says I will not waste a bullet on a coward. A coward is one who runs away from a fight. Mr. Enrile knows, four times he ordered my arrest, did I ran away from that? Did I go back to his office and said Mr. Enrile please forgive me? Did I cry because I was oppressed by the martial powers of the chief implementor of martial law at that time, Mr. Enrile?" Pimentel said. He added that he is also not a hypocrite. “And if we talk about hypocrisy, the biggest hypocrite is the one who fakes his ambush and then uses that as an excuse for the imposition of martial law. That is the biggest hypocrisy that I can think of," Pimentel said. He was referring to the alleged staged ambush of Enrile, then Defense Minister under Ferdinand Marcos’ administration, which led to the declaration of martial law in 1972. After Pimentel’s speech, the session was suspended and the senators went outside the session hall. When they returned, Enrile took the floor again saying that let history judge what he did during the martial law. Enrile said he was able to walk without fear and with a clear conscience and sleep soundly because he knew that what he did during those years was to serve the country and the people. After Enrile’s speech, the session was adjourned. - GMANews.TV
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