Enrile to deliver ‘factual’ speech Wednesday

Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Senate Minority Leader  Juan Ponce Enrile will take the floor on  Wednesday to deliver a privilege speech but he refused to say if it would be about the  alleged P10  billion  “pork barrel” scam.

Enrile said his speech would be “factual” but not as  destructive as  Supertyphoon “Yolanda”  (international name: Haiya) that  ravaged  the  country  last November 8.

“Yeah, tomorrow. I will just say something,”  he told reporters on Tuesday  when asked if it was true that he would deliver a privilege speech.

Asked  if his speech would be explosive, Enrile said: “Hindi naman. Hindi naman ako  Yolanda e (Not really. I am not Yolanda).”

“Factual lang ang sasabihin ko (What I will say is factual),” said Enrile, who has been charged with plunder at the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the  “pork” scam.

He did not elaborate and appealed to media to just wait for   his speech.

Enrile  was  again  back at the  limelight after  the  Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that he was the mastermind of the scam  based on an eight-page  memorandum by  the Ombudsman’s  fact-finding team.

If indeed   there was a memo, then the preliminary investigation being conducted by the anti-graft body   was just a “moro-moro,” the senators’ lawyers said  in a letter  to Ombudsman Conchita carpio-Morales dated November 22.

But Enrile said   his lawyers’ remarks  were  in reference  only  to the mastermind  tag   in one newspaper report.

Asked  if he  still  trusts the preliminary investigation  being conducted by the fact-finding team of the Ombudsman, Enrile said:   “Oo naman. Pero tingnan natin (Yes of course. But let’s see).”

Originally posted at 4:47 p.m. | November 26, 2013