Enrile is now lawyer of Marcos family

I have been trying to figure out what drives Juan Ponce Enrile these days. An out-of-job politician who has tasted a great deal of power, probably misses all that. But like any politician, he couldn’t be possibly driven primarily by the public interest. It has to be deeper than that.

Then some lawyers told me what is common knowledge among lawyers. Juan Ponce Enrile is lawyering for the Marcos family. Johnny may not be making personal court appearances for the Marcos family, but his law firm had been retained by the Marcoses to fight their hidden wealth cases.

A senior partner in the Enrile law firm had been appearing for the Marcos family and supposedly negotiating with private parties as well. And Johnny can’t say he has nothing to do with the Marcos cases because at the very least, when they divide the profits at the end of the year, he partakes of the income earned from the Marcoses.

Now I understand why Johnny is hell bent on making those forced Meralco deals seem like valid transactions. He was just doing his job as a lawyer for the Marcos family. But what about all those vile things he said about the Marcos regime when they were about to get him during EDSA1?

But Enrile should have made a proper disclosure. When I first commented on his charges, I disclosed, as I repeatedly do, that I do work for the Lopezes. I started my career with them in 1969 as a cub reporter in ABS-CBN. And my e-mail address is with BayanTel, a Lopez company. It is only fair that my readers be given a chance to discount my views when I comment on Lopez family interests. Not that my views are no longer valid but the public must know where I am coming from.

So, if newspapers want to be totally accurate about Mr. Enrile, whenever he says something for public consumption, he should be identified as Juan Ponce Enrile, legal counsel of the Marcos family and former martial law administrator.

Oh, well, this 360 degree turnaround of Johnny is really something else. It is this amazing metamorphosis of Johnny that makes people wonder who Johnny really is. At his age, Johnny’s place in the nation’s history should be pretty well established.

Strong Republic

The buzz around the coffee shops these days is about a senior cabinet member who is said to be worried about his job. He was said to have sent a text message to a subordinate in Manila while the Cabinet was meeting at Clark that he may not stay much longer in the Cabinet.

It seems that this senior official who is also known to be pretty close to the President, thought he had the right and stature to say in the open session that Ate Glo’s strong republic program seems to be a dud. He expressed concern that it isn’t catching on with the masa and may not help them boost survey ratings in time to gain the political momentum for 2004.

Well, Ate Glo didn’t take the comments kindly. While she didn’t throw any cell phone or sandwich in the cabinet member’s direction, she did give him a tongue lashing of the type that sent the NFA director packing. No wonder the Cabinet member is now worried.

I think Ate Glo had all the right to be indignant. Here she is, busting her butt to make the people see their government as responsive to their needs and one of her own is cutting it down before it can work. How can she sell her strong republic to the people if her own officials think little of it?

For one thing, there is nothing wrong with the strong republic theme. But they shouldn’t think of it merely as a tag for a media hype. It should be a substantial program that involves all levels of government.

I, for one, think it is time for this country to become a strong republic in the context of having a government that means business and imposes law and order. If there is anything wrong with it at all, it is the lukewarm support from the rest of the bureaucracy. Or maybe, they don’t take it seriously because they think it is just all about photo ops and recapturing national agenda setting from the newspapers.

Come to think of it, it does seem that Ate Glo’s people are starting to act like Erap’s barkada shortly before Edsa 2. They do seem to act as if they are worried they won’t have that much time to make hay anymore. This probably explains we have been having a number of scandalous deals being exposed in recent weeks. These questionable deals were done clumsily and in such brazen manner as to be easily uncovered.

In fact, even the sincerity of the President in weeding out corrupt deals is being put to question with rumors that arrangements are being made to deodorize such stinky stuff as the Erap renegotiated Piatco contract. Rumors have it that it is just a matter of time before the airport deal is declared valid without addressing the concerns raised by Ate Glo’s own consultant.

If Ate Glo wants her strong republic concept to take root and capture the imagination of the people, she must do more than pose for photo ops. She must kick ass. She must make sure she has the 100 per cent support of her own people. If her cabinet members are just humoring her with lip service support, that’s the end of her.

Good doctor

Here’s a "medical" joke from Dr. Ernie E.

A mother was scolding her daughter, "I don’t like the guy you are going out with. He looks too dumb!"

"No Momma," she said, "He is going to be a doctor and he has already cured me of that bleeding illness that I used to have every month."

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Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]