MANILA, Philippines – Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce-Enrile said he is not only prepared to get arrested but is also ready die inside his cell.
Enrile issued the statements on Monday when asked about the impending issuance of a warrant of arrest against him and other personalities charged with plunder at the Sandiganbayan.
Asked in an interview on Monday if he would resist the arrest, the senator said: “Why should I resist? I am a lawyer; I know the process, why should I resist? I have no reason to resist.”
“I’ve been prepared since several days ago. I’ve already packed up my things to bring it to Camp Crame if that’s where we are going to be confined,” he said.
Told about Senators Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.’s appeal to spare him from arrest, Enrile said: “I thank them for that but I’m prepared. Even if I’ll die in my cell, it’s okay. At my age, I got through life already.”
Estrada and Revilla were also co-accused in the plunder and anti-graft charges filed in court over the “pork” scam.
Enrile said he would not mind either if the arrest would be done inside or outside the Senate.
“I was served the warrant here in the senate in 1990. It was here in the Senate that I was arrested. The second time I was arrested in 2001 was at my house…” he pointed out.
But Enrile said he and his lawyers would exhaust all available remedies first so he could defend himself.
The filing of cases in court, he said, would give him and his former chief of staff, Atty. Jessica “Gigi” Reyes,” a chance to prove their innocence.
“…And we’ll have a chance to show that Mrs Reyes, my staff did not receive any money for me or for her and so it’s good that we are given the opportunity to use the proper forum to discharge all of these speculation, all of these charges, all of these things that are being thrown at us,” Enrile added.
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