Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile hit back at Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, saying he did not want her in the majority bloc in the Senate.
If not for Senator Manuel “Manny” Villar, Enrile said Santiago would not have been in the majority group and would have not gotten a committee chairmanship.
“I’m not hypocrite. When I don’t like a person, I don’t like a person,” he told reporters on Monday.
“In fact, I did not want her to be in the majority when I became the Senate President the last time. And it was because of Senator Villar who is a friend of mine who interceded for her,” he said.
When Santiago was attacking him at that time, Enrile recalled being invited to a dinner in Shangri-La hotel where he met with the lady senator and her husband.
“So we had dinner and she apologized and she said sorry,” he said.
“That’s why if you remember, she got the last available committee because I really didn’t want (her to be in the majority),” the Senate leader added.
Enrile said he has no ill-feeling towards Santiago although he was apparently hurt by the latter’s interview when she said that her relationship with him has turned ‘ice cold.”
When reminded that Enrile was her ‘ninong’ or principal sponsor in her wedding, Santiago said in her December 5, 2012 interview with reporters that it was just a “status” but “does not indicate friendship.”
“Wala akong galit sa kanya sya ang may galit sa akin (I harbor no ill feelings toward her; she is the one harbouring ill feelings toward me),” Enrile said.
“Ngayon kung ang tao ay hindi ako itinuturing na kaibigan o ako’y kinuha lang as a ninong (Now if a person would not consider me as a friend or I was asked to be their “ninong”) for convenience, for status at a time when I was Secretary of Justice, so then I said maybe I will call a spade a spade. I don’t impose myself upon her,” he added.