JPE's perspective

He’s 58 going on 68 on Valentine’s Day 2010, Juan Ponce Enrile likes to joke, grinning at his own flawed math.

The Senate president also says he plans to file his certificate of candidacy for re-election “if I am still alive by November.”

At 85, a person can afford to joke about his longevity. I once likened Enrile to a beached, barnacled boat. Up close he doesn’t look barnacled at all. The secret of his youthful look, he jokes, is “patented.”

At 85, one has the unique perspective bestowed by history, especially when one has been a key player in shaping historical events.

As martial law enforcer-turned-EDSA hero, Enrile is unapologetic about his role in those events. He signed the much-reviled ASSOs – or Arrest, Search and Seizure Orders – that were used against political dissidents and critics of Marcos. At EDSA in 1986, Enrile admitted staging an ambush on his car, which Ferdinand Marcos used as a pretext for declaring martial law.

Today Enrile relates that he himself drafted Proclamation 1081, Marcos’ martial law decree. This is why Enrile remembers clearly that the 1972 proclamation contained a provision citing an earlier Supreme Court ruling, in Barcelona vs Baker, which stated that whenever the president declared martial law or suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, no court could question the factual basis of the proclamation.

This court ruling is no longer valid, Enrile told several STAR editors the other day. The 1987 Constitution, he pointed out, limits the presidential power to declare emergency rule or martial law to cases of foreign invasion or rebellion endangering national safety.

“Don’t even bother yourself about it,” he said when asked about the possibility of President Arroyo declaring emergency rule. “It is not even probable at this time.”

He also brushed aside prospects for Charter change (Cha-cha) at this time, reiterating that “it’s gone with the wind.”

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A chat with Enrile can seem like a walk back in time – during the era of Gone with the Wind, when he smoked three packs of Piedmont and then Chesterfield a day, and when the suit of choice was a Marzotto.

His recollections of the turbulent days leading up to martial law also remain vivid.

Enrile said he saw no parallels between those days and the final months in power of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Back then there was a genuine raging rebellion, he told us. A political science professor at the University of the Philippines named Nurullaji Pining Misuari was mentoring an idealistic student named Jose Maria Sison on the ways of communism.

Sison later organized the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), in Luzon while Misuari, who chaired the Kabataang Makabayan, launched the Mindanao Independence Movement and later founded the separatist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Even back then, the separatists already had three factions, Enrile recalled. Misuari, who had a secular approach, was recognized by the Organization of Islamic Conference as the leader. Hashim Salamat had a more religious approach while Dimas Pundato was seen as a moderate.

The Islamic “blackshirts” under then Cotabato Gov. Udtog Matalam and Salipada Pendatun were battling the “Ilaga” Christian settlers.

Shortly after martial law was declared, Misuari struck, raiding Marawi in October 1972 and taking over the Mindanao State University where he held captive the Japanese ambassador, Toshio Urabe. MSU president Mauyag Tamano (uncle of Adel) managed to spirit out Urabe, disguising the envoy in a sarong and fez.

Enrile, back in his post as defense chief after a failed run for the Senate in 1971, deployed a battalion of Marines and a small Army contingent, dislodging the MNLF from the MSU within three days.

Misuari’s rebellion would rage for several more years even as the CPP-NPA also gained strength.

Those years make Enrile skeptical about the prospects of negotiating a final peace settlement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the separatist MNLF breakaway group founded by Salamat.

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Enrile recalls Marcos’ wife Imelda flying to Tripoli together with defense undersecretary Carmelo Barbero and committing 13 Mindanao provinces to the MNLF during her meeting with Libyan strongman Muammar Khadaffy.

The Tripoli Agreement was milder than the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain that the Arroyo government nearly signed with the MILF last year, Enrile said. The one forged in Tripoli did not give the proposed Bangsamoro homeland autonomy in its defense and foreign affairs.

And yet Enrile strongly opposed the original provisions of the Tripoli Agreement. Marcos had to call a Cabinet meeting wherein Estelito Mendoza and local government chief Jose Roño sided with Enrile against Imelda and then foreign affairs chief Carlos P. Romulo.

Finally, Imelda had to return to Libya, Enrile in tow together with a team that included Mendoza and Fidel Ramos, to tell Khadaffy that the agreement would have to be subjected to a plebiscite in the 13 provinces.

While Imelda lectured Khadaffy about black holes and the Philippines being the center of the universe, Enrile and the rest of the delegation spent a week eating lamb morning, noon and night, without seeing the Libyan leader. Marcos later told Enrile’s team to proceed to Rome and leave Imelda behind together with Romulo, Fabian Ver, Romulo Espaldon and several of Imelda’s Blue Ladies.

In the plebiscite, a majority of the 13 provinces rejected Muslim autonomous rule, including Palawan, General Santos, Zamboanga City, Lanao del Sur and the Davao provinces.

Unless the MILF gives up demands for territory and lays down its arms, Enrile believes peace cannot be negotiated with the group.

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The recent bombings in Mindanao cannot be used as a pretext for declaring emergency rule in Metro Manila, Enrile said.

This scenario is being raised in case the President’s allies in the House of Representatives fail to convene a constituent assembly (con-ass) to railroad Cha-cha.

Enrile pointed out that all he has to do is bang the gavel at the first hint that Speaker Prospero Nograles is convening a con-ass at the joint opening session next week, and the session would be adjourned.

“They can never do anything without the Senate,” Enrile said. “It’s a legal impossibility.”

He also expressed confidence that President Arroyo would step down as scheduled next year.

Let’s see if the wisdom of age bears him out.