Enrile’s redemption

As chief architect of Martial Law, who arrested political dissidents on the strength of xeroxed copies of Arrest Search and Seizure Orders, it is interesting to watch Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile taken into custody by a chief intelligence officer without an arrest warrant. But such are the political vagaries in the Philippines, which has experienced at least eight failed coup attempts from July 1986 to April 30, 2001—all of them purportedly bearing the imprint of the former Marcos defense minister.

This was the introduction of the article I wrote for this paper in May 3, 2001, or less than five months after Gloria Arroyo succeeded President Joseph “Erap” Estrada in power on the heels of a failed Senate impeachment trial.

Eleven years ago today, the political grapevine was awash with rumors “that Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Gregorio Honasan met with resigned police chief Panfilo Lacson and the military’s number 2 man, Lt. General Jose Calimlim, at Estrada’s residence in Polk Street, in Greenhills, San Juan. Honasan, Lacson and Army Brigadier General Marcelino Malajacan, members of PMA Class 1971, actively recruited soldiers and policemen for destabilization activities against the Arroyo government. The rumors were confirmed by a retired Navy commander Jaime Lucas who said that Enrile, Honasan, Lacson and other members of Class 1971 were plotting to oust Arroyo in a military coup.”

The events led Arroyo to declare Manila under a “state of rebellion,” a situation that does not exist in the Constitution. The phrase was coined supposedly to address the need of the state at that particular time, which was to contain the alleged ringleaders, among them, Enrile.

As a result, he was widely criticized with one Asian newsmagazine calling him “a failed hero,” an allusion to his defection from the Marcos military to join the pro-Corazon Aquino forces in 1986. Almost overnight, the Edsa hero became a heel because of his “role” in the series of failed power grabs from 1986 to 2001.

I was moved to retrieve portions of the article, recalling events as I saw them in 2001, because the present political storm has again placed Enrile in the center.

The first week of the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona had the public in rapt attention over the performance of the House prosecution and the defense panels, but for Dean Raul C. Pangalangan, it is Senate President and Presiding Officer Juan Ponce Enrile who stood out in last week’s trial.  The legal luminary credited JPE because of his even application of the rules adopted by the Senate sitting as impeachment court. By extension, the Senate also took the first round, according to Pangalangan.

Senator Enrile is turning 88 next month.  He is clearly one of the most brilliant minds that the country’s legal profession has produced (Bachelor of Laws cum laude, Class Salutatorian, from the University of the Philippines, 1953, admitted to the Bar in 1955 and the same year trained at the International Tax Program of Harvard Law School where he obtained his Master of Laws).

His positions of leadership in government show he believes in hard work, that a masteral law degree merely raises the ante. Enrile has served as acting secretary of Finance, acting insurance commissioner and acting chairman of the Monetary Board (Central Bank) of the Philippines and acting chairman of the Philippine Coconut Authority. He was also Secretary of Justice, chairman of the Philippine National Bank, the National Investment Development Corp., National Police Commission and secretary (Minister) of National Defense.

He was elected congressman of Cagayan province, senator of the Republic and served in that post from 1987 to 2001.  He launched a senate comeback in 2004 and was reelected in the May 2010 elections. He will be 92 years old when he completes his Senate term in 2016.

What could be in his mind as he presides over this historic trial of the Supreme Court Chief Justice?

The rave reviews about Enrile’s handling of the impeachment trial to date makes me recall the movie “The Shawshank Redemption.”

The 1994 film that starred Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman tells of the story of Andy Dufresne (played by Robbins), a banker who was convicted for the murder of his wife and her lover despite his claims of innocence. During his time in Shawshank State Prison, Andy befriends a fellow inmate, Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding (Freeman). Andy had been physically abused by gangs in prison but later on gained protection from the warden after he found out about the inmate’s skills in money laundering transactions.

Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency, says the blurb of the movie. A film reviewer suggested the movie is an “allegory for maintaining one’s feeling of self-worth when placed in a hopeless position.”  The film provides a great illustration of how characters can be free, even in prison, or unfree, even in freedom, based on one’s outlook on life, said another movie critic.

Enrile redeemed himself in 1986 when he joined the forces of the revolution.  I will no longer comment about his actions post Edsa 1, suffice it to say that the present political turmoil could be his last chance at rediscovering his self-worth.