Miriam wants Senate inquiry on Enrile's book

The rift between Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile  is far from over. On Monday, Santiago's camp released a statement saying the feisty senator will be filing a resolution to look into the veracity of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile's memoir which was launched last year.

 

Santiago said she wants the inquiry on the "brazen false claims" made by Enrile in his book when Congress resumes session in July.

 

GMA News Online was still trying to reach Enrile's camp for comment as of posting time.

 

Santiago made the call after senatorial hopeful Ramon Montaño, a former police general, alleged that Enrile lied in his book.

 

In an interview with Yahoo News, Montaño said he didn't finish reading Enrile’s book because it was "full of lies.”

 

Montaño specifically alleged that Enrile made up details on the latter's supposed ambush, which laid the basis for the proclamation of Martial Law.

 

In his book, the Senate president said he was ambushed while going home to Dasmariñas Village in Makati in 1972.

 

But Montaño, a former chief of the Philippine Constabulary, said that his team tasked to investigate the alleged ambush ruled that it was fake.

 

The senatorial aspirant also said Enrile only pretended to support Corazon Aquino during the 1986 snap elections, but really wanted to form a military junta. Mrs. Aquino was installed president following the February 1986 people power revolution. An earlier article on GMA News Online also showed that Enrile's account on the death of former matinee idol Alfie Anido in 1981 differed with that of his son, Cagayan Rep. Jack Enrile. At the time of Anido's death, the actor was the boyfriend of Enrile's daughter, Katrina. Enrile's offenses?

 

In her statement, Santiago said Enrile may have committed any of the several crimes punishable under the Penal Code, such as unlawful use of means of publication, falsification by public officer of a document, or falsification by private individual.

 

She explained that the unlawful use of means of publication is "committed by any person who by any means of publication shall publish as news, any false news which may cause damage to the interest of the State."

 

She said falsification of a document by public officer is "committed by causing it to appear that persons have participated in any act or proceeding when they did not in fact so participate; or by making untruthful statements in a narration of facts."

 

On the other hand, she said falsification by a private individual is "committed by any person who, to the damage of a third party, shall in any private document commit acts of falsification."

 

“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.

 

“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. He has already told me that regardless of the Senate campaign results, he is willing to testify in a public hearing and affirm his statements against Enrile. The rule in evidence will apply to Enrile: false in one thing, false in all things. Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus,” she added.

 

Santiago and Enrile have been at odds since the two clashed on the controversial Reproductive Health law. — Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ/KG, GMA News