MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile said he is suffering from what he described as “age-related macular degeneration,” or eyesight deterioration.
“Lately, I have turned down many speaking engagements on account of my heavy work load and schedule, and partly because of some difficulty I have with my eyesight,” Enrile said when he spoke before the Commencement Ceremony of the U.P. College of Law in Diliman, Quezon City Monday.
“My doctor calls my affliction ‘age-related macular degeneration’. Whatever that is, I don’t know, but it is there. Well, at 88, I understand why it is ‘age-related,’ he said.
His condition did not prevent him however to talk lengthily about how he started his career as a lawyer after he graduated as “cum laude” in the University of the Philippines.
Enrile said he considered his admission to the U.P. College of Law “as something designed by providence” as he was all set to take his law course at the Ateneo de Manila.
“Up to the first semester of my fourth year, I was a candidate for a magna cum laude. When I reached the last semester of my senior year, I committed a serious blunder. I argued passionately with my professor in civil law review, who was no less than the brilliant but acerbic Vicente Abad Santos, on a doubtful question of law,” he said.
“Obviously, Professor Abad Santos did not relish my temerity to challenge his mastery of the subject. As a result, he gave me a grade of 3 in Civil law review, which was a five-unit subject. The grade of 3 that he gave me lowered my general average and brought me down to the level of a cum laude,” he further said.
While in n the U. P. College of Law, Enrile said he gained the friendship of several men who later made big names in the field of law and politics like martyred Senator Benigno A. Aquino Jr., former Vice President Salvador Laurel, Senator Joker Arroyo, among others.
In 1953, the Senate leader received his diploma for the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He also took the bar examination on the same year but did not make it to the top 10 .
“When I read the results of the Bar examinations in the local newspapers in January 1954, I felt a terrible disappointment. I passed. But, I did not make it to the list of the top ten successful Bar candidates. I was number 11, in spite of my general average of 91.72%.”
“What made it worse for me was my nagging thought that I did not work hard enough to be at the top. I had the foolish notion that my four months of gruelling review was not sufficient,’ he said.
His disappointment, he said, was somewhat softened when he got a perfect score in Commercial Law.
In January, 1954, Enrile took his oath as a member of the Philippine Bar and he won the first case he handled in court when he defended Acoje Mining Company from an unfair labor practice filed by four Ilocano complainants.
“This College has produced some of the best and the brightest stars in the legal profession. It has also produced some of the most colorful and, if I may add, controversial figures in our nation’s history,” he said.
“I would think that I belong to this last category. To say that my life and career as a public servant has been ‘controversial’ is, perhaps, an understatement to most,” he added.
Enrile said he would not be surprised if the UP community does not consider him as a source of pride given his role during the time of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
“It is but natural and expected that my role in the Marcos era and the martial law years, and my stand on many critical and passionate political and social issues, have invariably caused what may have been perceived as some sort of “estrangement” between this University and me.”
“Far from feeling estranged, however, I have always looked at and understood the U.P. community as both a marketplace and an advocate of varied ideas and causes at different times in our nation’s life,” said the Senate leader.
He said he owed his present role as the presiding officer in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona to the training and experiences he received while he was in the university.
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“And that is why people should not be surprised that today I am the Presiding Officer of Impeachment trial in the Senate. It is because of my training in the University of the Philippines,” Enrile added.