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Enrile to retire from politics in 2016, denies reported plan to run for Cagayan gov 


Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile on Monday said he will retire from politics in three years time, belying an earlier report that he plans to run for Cagayan governor when his term as senator ends in 2016.

"Tapos na ako ... I have done enough to help this country. I didn't succeed that much. In some, I succeeded, but that's life," Enrile told reporters.

Come the 2016 polls, Enrile would be 92 years old. 
 
Enrile said he will just let his son, former Cagayan Rep. Jack Enrile, to "participate in politics" upon his retirement. The younger Enrile lost his senatorial bid during the 2013 midterm polls.
 
Last month, the Philippine Star, quoting an anonymous "prominent Cagayan politician," reported that the elder Enrile was eyeing the top elected post in his home province "supposedly to preserve his family's political foothold" in the area.
 
Asked how he plans to address the controversies allegedly involving him upon his retirement, Enrile said, "I will finish that ... Wala naman akong kinalaman doon." 
 
Enrile is currently facing plunder raps before the Office of the Ombudsman for supposedly pocketing kickbacks from the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Last week, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, Enrile's staunch critic, also asked the Department of Justice to probe the opposition leader's other supposed crimes, including smuggling, illegal logging, gambling and the disappearance of protesters during the Martial Law era. — Andreo Calonzo/RSJ, GMA News
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