Enrile raring to go back to Senate

SEN. JUAN Ponce Enrile wants to jump right back to work at the Senate and join the political fray as soon as he is released on a P1.45-million bail from his yearlong hospital detention on plunder charges in connection with the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

“You know how he is. He feels there are very significant issues that he ought to contribute to in the discussion, like the BBL (Bangsamoro Basic Law) and the West Philippine Sea conflict,” said his lawyer, Eleazar Reyes.

“He’s in very high spirits. He wants to go back to work. He’s really raring to work,” said Reyes, adding that Enrile will likely report for work at the Senate today.

However, as of press time yesterday, the senator was still waiting at the Philippine National Police General Hospital for the Supreme Court to officially release its decision granting his petition for bail so it could be processed by the Sandiganbayan.

As of press time yesterday, the Supreme Court had yet to release the order. The court did not say why.

Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang waited in vain until 5 p.m. yesterday with 29 other Sandiganbayan personnel who were ordered to report for work even if it was a holiday in Quezon City just to process Enrile’s bail.

It was the first time in memory that the Sandiganbayan opened on a holiday to accommodate the bail posting of an accused.

Enrile has to be personally present when he posts bail and has to appear before CabotajeTang, who also chairs the Third Division which is conducting Enrile’s plunder trial.

Before the Sandiganbayan can process Enrile’s bail, it needs to receive an official copy of the high court’s decision.

On Tuesday, the court announced that the en banc had granted the 91-year-old senator’s plea for temporary liberty while on trial for plunder.

It said that Enrile had been granted bail “subject to the terms and conditions to be specified by the Court in its order, which will be forthcoming.”

The court also did not give details on the voting, but insiders earlier said eight magistrates favored Enrile, while four dissented.

Enrile’s bail was set at P1.45 million, or P1 million for the plunder case and P450,000 for 15 counts of graft (at P30,000 per count). He is accused along with former chief of staff Gigi Reyes of receiving P172 million in kickbacks from the pork barrel allotments he allegedly diverted to bogus nongovernment organizations run by alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

Reyes described Enrile to be in “good health… for a 91-yearold.”

Aside from arguing that the evidence against Enrile was weak, Reyes said they were able to show that Enrile should be given bail since he is not a flight risk and since he cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment (reclusion perpetua or 40 years of imprisonment) anyway even if he is found guilty.

“He is not a flight risk at his age and with the position that he is occupying, the probability of flight is zero,” the lawyer said.

According to Reyes, Enrile will also likely involve himself in the political activities leading to the 2016 elections.

“He’s the head of UNA (United Nationalist Alliance) and he is the minority leader in the Senate. So it’s most likely that he’ll take a position in the coming elections,” the lawyer said.

UNAis the political party of Vice President Jejomar Binay who has already declared he will run for President.