Enrile in hospital, proclaims innocence

MANILA, Philippines - An ailing Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile proclaimed his innocence last night in the plunder complaint filed against him and two other senators in connection with the pork barrel scam allegedly perpetrated by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

The 89-year-old lawmaker has been hospitalized since Saturday at the Makati Medical Center after complaining of difficulty in urinating.

Former Cagayan representative Jack Enrile said doctors removed an obstruction in his father’s urethra and in the process, the senator’s blood pressure rose.

“Let me make clear that I am innocent of the charges filed against me,” Enrile said.

He expressed regret that the Department of Justice filed the case “after an incomplete, hasty, and partial investigation.”

“That investigation has been accompanied by repeated and deliberate ‘leaks’ and the turnover of 17 boxes of documentary evidence to the DOJ three days after the department revealed and the President confirmed that a conclusion had already been reached,” he said.

Speaking through his spokesman, Enrique dela Cruz Jr., Enrile cited Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who admitted in the Senate Blue Ribbon hearing last week, “We are under extreme pressure to file already a case or cases ASAP ...”

“The Filipino people are entitled to a thorough, complete, and impartial investigation so that whatever his rank, whoever is guilty, is punished and the innocent are exonerated. That is not the kind of investigation that has been done,” he said.