Enrile warns of religious groups ‘meddling’ in Senate

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile has expressed alarm over the reported “meddling” of religious sectors in the fight for the Senate presidency, noting the apparent violation being committed by the religious groups on the principle of the separation of powers of Church and State.

“That would be an unfortunate situation and I do not know if that is a fact. If that is so, it violates the separation of Church and State. And I would suggest that the members of the Senate who are involved should discourage this because it transgresses the basic principle of our democratic government which is the separation of Church and State. Imagine if the head of the Senate would be installed through the effort of a religious house. I think it should not be affected by the people,” he said.

The issue of ensuring checks and balances is not the function of a religious body, Enrile stressed.

“We are conscious of the fact that we are responsible elected senators of the republic. We should be responsible not only for other departments of government. We must be independent from all pressures,” he added.

“I am not saying that this is true. I am stating a basic principle of government. What does this mean if there’s a vested group who will decide for the head of government? They’re not even elected by the people. I will stand against that. They’re my friends but I will not allow this to happen. It’s the independence of the institution that will be ruined.

institution that will be ruined.

He also urged people who are aspiring for leadership positions in the government “to discourage this practice if indeed such an effort is going on.”

“They will manipulate the government. That will be the effect of it,” Enrile noted.

Sen. Vicente Sotto mentioned in passing the matter on the religious groups backing the candidacies of those vying for the Senate presidency, in the light of supposed pronouncements by Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan’s camp that the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) support is preventing him from rallying behind the latter.

Sotto’s niece, movie and television celebrity Sharon Cuneta who is the spouse of Pangilinan has come out in public expressing disappointment in those senators who have supposedly turned their back on her husband.

Sotto was quick in clarifying that he had talked to both Cuneta and Pangilinan long time ago and have settled the issue with them.

“I have explained to them that there’s some political complications. He (Pangilinan) comes from a political group different from mine,” he said.

“I am sorry if Sharon is hurting, but the Senate presidency transcends family ties. The Senate should remain independent and should not be pressured even with family concerns. I hope that in due time she would understand my decision. Whatever my decision will be will not change my feelings toward her,” he said.

Sotto also revealed that last-ditch efforts to turn the tables and pave the way for presidency in the Senate of Pangilinan are said to be ongoing, with some influential forces coming to his rescue to snatch the post from supposed highly favored candidate Enrile.

He said some ranks in the Liberal Party (LP) have repeatedly tried to convince him recently into supporting their bet even as he already made pronouncements on his position against Pangilinan assuming the top upper chamber post.

“I will not mention names but the past few days, a number of ‘heavyweights’ talked to me and tried to talk me into supporting the Liberal (LP) group, the group of (President) Noynoy (Aquino). They’re what you can consider the big guns, the big guns in Philippine politics. But I explained to them my situation and after explaining it to them, they always thank me and say that they understand my situation,” he said in an interview over at dwIZ.

Sotto has been consistent in saying that he and Sen. Gregorio Honasan, have agreed to vote as one, meaning they will be supporting a common candidate when voting for the Senate presidency comes on Monday, July 26.

Pangilinan is said to be short of two votes, with 11 senators earlier willing to back his bid.

But recent turn of events showed Enrile being the common choice among senators even from opposing sides, prompting some of them to push the idea of installing him again when they formally open the session and prevent a possible stalemate.

“It’s not a secret, that Gringo (Honasan) and I, agreed to vote as one. But once Enrile will seek the position, Gringo (Honasan) cannot turn his back on him and therefore the same goes with me. They know this, those who talked to us, the likes of (Senators Manuel) Villar, (Edgardo) Angara, (Franklin) Drilon, Kiko (Pangilinan). Senators (Sergio) Serge (Osmeña III) and (Francis) Chiz (Escudero) also talked to us. This was before Enrile got into the picture,” he said.

The same was the condition set by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada when he signed the resolution supporting Pangilinan’s bid.

“We had a gentleman’s agreement and he understands that I cannot abandon my mentor and party mate (Enrile). When I signed the resolution supporting him as Senate president, I had a collatilla saying ‘provided that Enrile will join the majority and will not vie for the position’,” Estrada said.

Estrada also indicated intense lobbying to take place over the weekend or so-called raiding of ranks, either from Pangilinan’s camp and Villar, admitting that this was the reason he had to return home early coming from a vacation in the United States.

Sotto corroborated Enrile’s statements on being pushed by some of their peers to take on the post instead, even if he’s not a declared candidate, saying that he’s aware of two to three senators coming from various “blocs” in the Senate who visited the latter sometime this week.

Sotto said he and Honasan were summoned by Enrile after the said incident and told them of the apparent stalemate.

But even if Enrile is said to have the edge over Pangilinan, still, Sotto said, the situation is still very fluid.

Meanwhile, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she’s not against the idea of having Enrile as a “hold-over” Senate president.

“I have no problem no problem with Enrile as a hold over Senate president. His term officially ended June 30 but in political science, there is no holdover principle which I’d like to remind the Aquino administration now. It means you don’t have to fire anybody if the president is not yet ready to appoint his substitute. You can just issue a hold or status order. Everyone will remain status quo until the president appoints your replacement,” Santiago, a known Villar supporter, said.

“In this case, applying the status quo principle, Senator Enrile being the last Senate president, in my view can very easily hold office as acting Senate president.

“Or another option could be, we should eliminate anybody who’s running for Senate president and out of respect and courtesy, we should just designate the oldest member of the Senate being the repository or presumably the most volume of wisdom in the Senate.

“I think presumably it should be Sen. Joker Arroyo. So we’ll have somebody to sit with the President and the Speaker at the Sona (State of the Nation Address) on Monday afternoon,” she said. –Angie Rosales, Daily Tribune