Minority Leader Juan Ponce-Enrile and Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago dared Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce-Enrile to a televised debate on the plunder charge against him in connection with the P10-billion “pork barrel” funds scam.
“I did in the past, I challenge Enrile to a public televised debate on the plunder charge against him…,” Santiago said in her speech on Wednesday.
“The first time I challenged Enrile to a debate, he declined and instead called on Lacson to shower me with near-illiterate insults, including an oxymoron,” she said, referring to former Senator Panfilo Lacson.
“If this second time Enrile again evades debate, that will be an admission that he is the mastermind of the plunder of some P10-billion of the taxpayers’ money; and that he is insulting me on a personal level, as a diversionary tactic, and as a smokescreen for his criminality,” Santiago said.
Related stories
Enrile ignores Santiago, plays Bejeweled
Navigating the crimes of the plunder mastermind