Santiago wants Enrile’s book probed

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago wants the Senate to conduct an inquiry into Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s book for allegedly containing “brazen false claims.”

“The Enrile book caused a scandal because his claims have no relation to political reality.  But the scandal will be finally settled when Gen. Montaño appears in a Senate hearing,” Santiago said in a statement Monday.

She was referring to a recent news report quoting former Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief and now senatorial candidate Ramon Montaño who claimed Enrile’s book was “full of lies.”

Montaño was quoted as saying that Enrile had “made up details of his supposed ambush in his book.”

Montaño had conducted an investigation of the alleged ambush when he was PNP Chief under former president Corazon Aquino. They had found that the ambush was faked.

Santiago said that Enrile might have committed crimes such as “unlawful use of means of publication” and “falsification of document by a public officer” because of his book.

“Whatever the crime, the basic rule is that the accused should have violated public faith and destroyed the truth, as decided by the Supreme Court in the 1985 case of Gamido, and the separate case of Sabiano,” Santiago said.

“[Montaño] has already told me that regardless of the Senate campaign results, he is willing to testify in a public hearing and affirmed his statements against Enrile,” she said.

Santiago said that she would file the resolution calling for an investigation in aid of legislation when Senate resumes session in July. The Senate is currently on break to give way to the election campaigns.

The Senate president launched his book “Juan Ponce Enrile: A Memoir” September last year.