End of Enrile era
Eight senators and 67 members of the House will end their term on June 30 when President-elect Rodrigo Duterte is sworn into office. For Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, it is the end of an era of nearly half a century of public service. Say what you will about the man, but no one has etched and left such an imprint on Philippine politics. JPE, as he is known to colleagues and friends, is looking at retirement in his home province of Cagayan up north.
Enrile obtained his law degree at the University of the Philippines where he graduated cum laude. He scored one of the highest passing grades in the Philippine bar exams with 96.— percent. He took up a masters degree in law at Harvard School of Law. In his four terms as a senator he served twice as Senate president, the third highest position in the land. A highlight of his career was when he served as presiding judge in the impeachment and conviction of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona.
His knowledge of the law, particularly taxation, is without equal. Together with former Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos, then-Defense Minister Enrile led an uprising which led to People Power that toppled strongman President Ferdinand Marcos in February 1986. Who can forget that iconic picture of Enrile carrying a sub-machinegun while making a stand at Camp Aguinaldo?
Enrile was made Defense secretary in the ensuing revolutionary government of President Cory Aquino but he broke away from her together with Vice President Salvador H. Laurel because of policy differences.
As they say if it’s not written in the stars, the destiny of becoming president is elusive. It was the housewife and widow of assassinated Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. who was to be the accidental president who later on endorsed Fidel Valdez Ramos who would follow as President. What if Enrile and Ramos were pushed by the Edsa crowd to take over the government?
Media boycott? No problem
Incoming President Duterte’s decision to stop his press briefings and boycott media is a welcome relief from his ranting and obscene remarks against journalists, the church and women. It’s bad enough that Duterte called the “Punisher” inflicts his harsh and crass language on his audience, he also wants to close down Congress, and the Bureaus of Customs and Internal Revenue for corruption and incompetence. The threat to shut down institutions is not totally baseless, but why not fix the problem instead? He cannot give up even before he has tried.
United Nations rapporteurs Cristof Heynes and David Kaye weighed in on Duterte’s iron fist policy for dealing with criminals saying “he should not incite violence.” This, in a country where crime and violence are the daily fare of the six o’clock evening news on TV. Duterte’s remark about journalists being killed because they are corrupt is extremely irresponsible and that it is unbecoming of a leader who’s going to assume the highest post in the land of a democratic country, the UN officials added.
Digong’s surprisingly mild reaction to the UN rapporteurs: “Go home, get some sleep.” No “f” word, no “P.I.” phrase.
Anyway, even without him presiding over those press conferences, media can still source news from official government outlets like the Malacañang press office, and government information bureaus. Personally, I think it will be Duterte who would miss not being written about. This is a man who relishes being in the news even if he claims his words are often taken out of context in news stories. He thinks the world revolves around him and that Davao is the center of the universe.
I watched his news conferences, which the major TV networks covered live and in full. What comes out in the news is actually what he himself said, including his profanities and obscene language. It’s hard to believe these were uttered by the President of the Republic. They are not statements taken out of context. Probably realizing their folly that declaring a boycott of media, Duterte’s incoming Communications Secretary-designate Martin Andanar announced that the government will have a weekly TV program and a national tabloid to carry the incoming administration’s “achievements.”
This is a waste of public funds which could be better spent for projects that will benefit the people. Government accomplishments after all need not be propagandized. If they are really achievements, the mainstream media will pick it up and carry it. But because Duterte had been contentious and adversarial, things came to a head.