Cristina Ponce Enrile ‘muddled the facts’ – Gigi Reyes

Breaking her silence on the revelations made by the wife of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, his former chief of staff Atty. Gigi Reyes said Wednesday, “They are not all lies, but half-truths are half-lies as well.”

On Monday, Mrs. Cristina Ponce Enrile claimed in an interview with Winnie Monsod on the GMA public affairs program "Bawal ang Pasaway" that she wanted to divorce her husband after learning he was having an affair with Reyes, his long-time senior aide who has been implicated in a pork barrel scam together with the senator.

“He has had many girls before Gigi, many girls, but they don't last too long,” Mrs. Enrile said. “With Gigi, it lasted long,” she added.
 

Reacting to the interview, Reyes told GMA News Online: “Mrs. Enrile has her own reasons for muddling the facts, painting her own picture of her marriage and laying the blame on 'women' who she said were the ones who 'offered themselves' to her husband. Excuse me, I certainly did not offer myself to him.”

She added: “So, kasalanan lahat ng mga babae, walang kasalanan si Senator kase lalaki lang siya natural lang.. ganon ba?”

Rumors about a romantic relationship between Enrile and Reyes, who are currently facing plunder charges at the Ombudsman for allegedly pocketing kickbacks from government funds funneled into ghost projects, have circulated for years.

The rumors resurfaced after Ruby Tuason, one of the accused in the pork scandal, told a Senate hearing last month that she personally handed over the kickbacks to Reyes and that Enrile was present during one of their meetings.

On Wednesday, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said Mrs. Enrile's revelation about the relationship between the senator and his former chief of staff bolsters the government's case against them on the alleged misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund.

Asked about the pork scandal in the 'Pasaway' interview, however, Mrs. Enrile had said she did not think he was involved in the anomaly “because I don't think Johnny is that stupid.”

'It's useless'

Enrile filed a counter-affidavit before the Ombudsman last December 20 refuting the plunder complaint filed against him.

Meanwhile, Reyes had said in a previous statement: “I have every intention to defend myself, my name and my honor and to acquit myself of all the baseless charges and blatant lies being spread about me and those contained in perjured affidavits of so-called whistle-blowers.”

On Wednesday, Enrile dismissed his wife's statements as “mere suspicions” and said he did not know that she would be interviewed on television.

In her brief communication with GMA News Online, Reyes did not mention the pork scandal and said she did not want to “engage directly” with the Enrile couple. “It's useless,” she said. “How do you debate with somebody who exists in another realm?”

In a post on her Facebook page on Wednesday, Reyes posted several quotes from M. Scott Peck's book "People of the Lie." She wrote that she reviewed some of the passages "because many of us suffer from living a lie and ultimately and tragically believing our own lies."

“But that's not the problem,” she added. “The problem is when we inflict our lies on others and thus succeed in our desire to confuse.”

Reyes explained to GMA News Online later, “I quoted those lines because of the many lies I heard” in Mrs. Enrile's interview.

“To be sure they are not all lies, but half-truths are half-lies as well,” Reyes said.

In the interview with Monsod, Mrs. Enrile said she met Reyes only once, in her husband's house inside the family compound.

“It was not nice,” Mrs. Enrile said. — Yasmin Arquiza/BM, GMA News