PNS — Whether there’s truth behind the coup talks in the upper chamber, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday dismissed any possibility of Malacañang having a hand on the purported plot to oust him, including the possibility of President Aquino’s involvement.
Enrile expressed belief that if the President or the Executive would want to replace him, the matter would be handled diplomatically.
“If it’s the wish of the President, I know him as a level-headed person, we know each other. I don’t think so (that he is involved). All they have to do is tell me, talk to me. I don’t think (President) Noynoy (Aquino) is like that, that he’s a machinator or a Machiavellian because he can talk to me, anytime,” he said in an interview over at dzBB.
Clearly, the upper chamber chief said such allegations could have only come from those who are out to stir an issue in the upper chamber.
“I don’t think the President has
anything to do with it or Malacañang for that matter,” he added.
But Enrile admitted that he is ready to face any eventuality, including the possibility of being replaced when they reopen sessions this afternoon.
“I don’t know (if I’m still the Senate president). You know, I don’t assume anything that I am alive tomorrow. I’m not assuming that my colleagues will retain me there. I will go there (today), I will assume that I am the president of the Senate. If there’s a number that will replace me, I will gladly give it up,” he said.
The Senate chief added that despite the surfacing of coup talks threatening his leadership, he did not make any move even to this day, to defeat the purpose of those supposedly out to overthrow him or to invalidate the information.
Based on information provided by various sources, as early as Wednesday, talks of alleged impending leadership change in the Senate when Congress resumes sessions today already floated, with Sen. Franklin Drilon, supposedly likely to replace Enrile.
Reports said that the information even reached Malacañang long before the matter saw print last Friday.
“You can ask anyone if I have talked to any one of them, even those (senators) known to be close to me. I never talked to them. I need not do that. Why? Why should I talk to them?” he asked.
“But I’m not bothered by it because I know Franklin (Drilon). If he’s interested, he would have told me, ‘I would like to work again, I will try to muster the needed numbers…’ then I will say ‘okay, you can have it.’ I know him so well.”
“I do not know why some people make it so big an issue or why they waste time about it,” he said.
Enrile, when asked if he felt slighted to be the report on the supposed plot to oust him, he gave this answer: “Never. I have no vested interest over that position. I never entertained the thought that I will be there forever.”
“I’m not cooperating (with Malacañang) in the sense that I’m subservient to anybody but I know my duty to the country and I have to work with the three other departments of government in order to make our lives easier, and the lives of our people easier. I’m not here to become a hero or anything else. I’m here to serve the people,” he said.