16 senators ask Sandiganbayan: Allow Enrile house arrest

MANILA, Philippines - Sixteen senators have signified support for Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile's house arrest due to his age and deteriorating health.

In an appeal sent to the Sandiganbayan Third Division, acting Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III notified the court about the expressed intent of senators to allow Enrile to be placed under house arrest.

Enrile is now confined at the Makati Medical Center after a bout with pneumonia last month. He was rushed to the private hospital after experiencing high fever at the Philippine National Police (PNP) General Hospital.

“May it please the Honorable Court to be provided the journal of the Senate containing the privilege speech of the undersigned on the matter of granting the situs of detention of former Senate President/Senator Juan Ponce Enrile at his residence in Dasmariñas Village, Makati City,” Sotto said in a one-page motion filed before the court on Thursday.

“As expressed in said speech, compassion is urged to be extended to Senator Enrile on account of his health condition and his being 91 years old already,” he added.

Sotto also informed the anti-graft court that other senators have expressed conformity with the intent and tenor of the privilege speech. Sotto said he also took the initiative to submit the privilege speech as an attachment in any previous or future motion of the counsel of Enrile seeking the grant of house arrest.

The motion sent to the Sandiganbayan are signed by Senate President Franklin Drilon, Senators Sergio Osmena III, JV Ejercito, Nancy Binay, Gregorio Honasan, Ralph Recto, Sonny Angara, Lito Lapid, Cynthia Villar, Ferdinand Marcos, Bam Aquino, Grace Poe, Loren Legarda, TG Guingona and Chiz Escudero.

Last March 2, Sotto formally asked the Senate to pass a resolution asking the proper authority to exercise its “judicial compassion” and allow Enrile to be placed under house arrest.

The Sandiganbayan ordered Enrile's based on the plunder and graft charges filed against him by the government for his alleged involvement in the multi-billion pork barrel scam. Also ordered arrested for the same case are Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.

Sotto took the floor on a matter of personal privilege where he started his speech by saying that he recognized the separation of the three great branches of the government. He added “that the administration of justice is better left uncommented on by the other two branches.”

“But I’m also aware that this separation is neither airtight nor flexible. They are dynamic, and the inputs of  one to the other may likewise serve the principles of justice  and  public interest,”  he said.

Under present circumstances, Sotto said justice is no less diminished should Enrile be detained at his residence in Makati City.

Sotto also noted that Enrile is "not a flight risk and neither is he intending to be one."

"I am not here to plead mercy. Senator Enrile has not been convicted. I simply want to rely on our operating principles that innocence is presumed. Furthermore,  upon reaching the age of seventy, even convicted criminals are considered  for pardon under present rules of the Department of Justice," Sotto said.

"I stand therefore for compassion and that judgment be withheld ‘til all the evidence of guilt are all in," he said.