Gringo to Enrile: No hard feelings

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Gregorio Honasan said yesterday he has no hard feelings for his mentor Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile after failing to get the latter’s endorsement for the 2016 elections.

Enrile has endorsed the bid of Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for vice president, while Honasan is the vice presidential candidate of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA). Both Enrile and Honasan played key roles in ousting the Marcoses during the 1986 Edsa Revolution.

The 67-year-old Honasan said he asked for Enrile’s blessing the day before he filed his certificate of candidacy for vice president, and the day after the former martial law administrator raised the hand of Marcos.

 “He told me ‘I didn’t know you’re running’,” Honasan said during a roundtable discussion at TV5 Media Center in Mandaluyong City with News5, InterAksyon.com, BusinessWorld, Philippine STAR and Bloomberg Philippines.

“The reason why we’ve been friends for a long time now is because we don’t interfere with each other’s decision. We’re not like ‘if you get one, you get two’,” he added.

Asked if Enrile could still have a change of heart because of his candidacy, Honasan said, “No, I give that judgment call to him.” However, he remains confident of his mentor’s support.

Meanwhile, If elected vice president, Honasan said he would like to be appointed as national security adviser and that he would address issues on information management.

“In my 18 years as senator, we debate based on conflicting and sometimes ridiculous data,” he said. 

He also described as “premature” the Philippines’ move to file a case against China before the United Nations arbitral tribunal in The Hague, the Netherlands. 

“In my opinion, the filing of case before the international tribunal is premature. We should have done serious back channeling without the media,” he said.