Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile resigns

At the closure of the 15th Congress, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile announced his resignation.

Here is a transcript of his valedictory speech:

“I refuse to lend my hard-earned name as a convenient refuge to those who cannot face the public and defend their own honor. I refuse to allow anybody, whether in or outside the halls of this Chamber, to just freely trample upon the name that my late father, Alfonso Ponce Enrile, had so kindly allowed me to carry with pride.”

“I suffered the anger of the public as the media branded all that I had authorized for release to the Senators' offices last December as my personal ‘CASH GIFTS’ no matter how hard I tried to explain the nature of these disbursements from the Senate's coffers and my own office's savings,”

“I do not need nor intend to use the powers, perquisites and trappings of the Senate Presidency just to cling to it or to secure this position for myself when the 16th Congress opens in July…Let us all be men and women worthy of being called "Honorable Senators." And let the chips fall where they may,”

“I will leave each of my colleagues to explain directly to the people who elected them their respective positions on these issues and to account for their own budgets, as I have always been ready to account for my own. I can no longer speak for them. I refuse to be anyone's scapegoat and everyone's whipping boy."

Meanwhile, Malacanang, whose allies in the Senate have doubled because of the recent elections which they would use to replace Senate President  Enrile and re-electing incumbent speaker Sonny Balmonte recognized JPE for helping pass the administation's bills.

Posted in: Juan Ponce Enrile,News