Press Release
February 11, 2009

Transcript of interview with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile

Q: World Bank report?

SPJPE: Meron akong kopya nung World Bank report. I do not need any copy from anybody.

Q: From Santiago committee or somebody gave it to you?

SPJPE: There's one that was given to me by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago...the first hearing.

Q: Sen. Lacson said kasi yesterday, si Ombudsman Gutierrez, sent a word to you that yung what she has in her possession is six pages of the World Bank report lang.

SPJPE: No, no, she has not sent forth to me. I have not talked to her about.

Q: Sir yung mga nasa palace, yung mga admin congressman, sinisisi na nila ngayon ang World Bank kung bakit may mga ganitong controversies sa bidding ng kanilang mga road projects...

SPJPE: Yun ang kanilang paningin. I also received an article written by certain mr... about the problem of the World Bank in relation to construction projects in different countries. As a consequence of which, I understand, the former president Paul Wolfowitz... who was looking into this problem ...I received that information.

Q: Sir, importante ba yun that the Senate has a copy of the World Bank report?

SPJPE: Well, dapat lang na kung kailangan na ipagpatuloy yung hearing, dapat meron yun because that is the basis of the hearing. Kung wala yun, then what are we hearing? We do not know what the issues are. In fact, during the first hearing na tinawag ni Sen. Miriam defensor Santiago, yun ang unang question, na lumabas. "Nasaan na yung World Bank report na yan?" Kaya ako binigyan ng kopya nung World Bank report. Pero yun namang World Bank report na binigay sa akin, which was dated I think, January 26, 2009, eh wala namang detalye. Hindi ko alam kung paano sya pinag-uusapan na World Bank report, kung yun nga ang World Bank report. My impression, when I read that document that was handed to me during the first hearing, was that this was an extract from a bigger report covering several companies.

Q: Sir, can you say yung World Bank should be giving, kasi ang dami namang nag-request nun?

SPJPE: Alam mo kung ako, nung iniimbestiga ko yung isang project that was funded by JICA during the time of President Erap, and I investigated it as chairman of the Committee on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises, I subpoenaed the Head of the JICA in the Philippines. But I was not able to bring him in the hearing because at the time I set the hearing of the case, the head of the JICA here was going out of the country. And then after the hearing is over, he will come back.

Q: ...Should we subpoena the World Bank, sir?

SPJPE: I will leave it to the chairman of the committee if she wants, she can subpoena the country director of the World Bank here, and it is up to them to adhere. Of course we cannot compel them to adhere, because I do not know the charter of the World Bank. You see the World Bank is actually a bank owned by all the countries of the world... to the capital of this bank, then I think, it was created by virtue of the treaty, I am not sure whether it is part of the Bretton Woods agreement among the nations, that was concluded after the world war II when they instituted the IMF, International Monetary Fund, including the World Bank. So, I do not know if they have under this Charter. But there is no harm in trying to invite them or send them a ... within the jurisdiction of the Republic of the Philippines, is up to them to raise their immunity, if they want to raise their immunity.

SPJPE:...Bakit ba kayo interesado sa...as far as the appearance of the First Gentleman, I am not saying this because he is Mr. Mike Arroyo. We have to at least to give due respect to the title. The gentleman, is the First Gentleman of the country. They could invite him, and if he is capable to, able enough physically to come, then it would be better if he would come. I would assure that he will be given every courtesy in the Senate if he appears. On the other hand, given the fact that he had undergone a major operation, I will have to refer to the opinion of his doctors. I am not a doctor to evaluate his physical condition whether he could carry the emotional stresses of appearing in the congressional hearing. People have different threshold of stress, and I don't know whether his blood pressure is 120/70. But if his blood pressure is more than that, then it is also very dangerous to put him under a heavy stress. We must depend upon the opinion and advice of his doctors.

Q: Sir, yun bang paglalaro ng golf, nakakaalis ng stress?

SPJPE: Oo, alam mo pag naglalaro ka ng golf, wala kang iniisip kundi yung bola. Kung minsan, hindi mo pinapalo yung bola basta lakad ka lang ng lakad. Wala kang iniisip eh. Because if you are thinking of something else when you are playing golf, you can never hit that ball. Tamaan mo man yung bola, pukpukpuk...o kaya, kung hindi man pukpukpuk, mag-slice ka o maghu-hook ka. Sabi nga, yung nagtuturo ng golf, tinanong daw sya, , "Sir, what is a hook. He said this, when your ball goes to the left. What is a slice? When your ball goes to the right. And if it is a straight, that's a miracle."

...Hindi biro. I'm telling you I am a golfer. You lose all consciousness about the world if you are a real golfer, when you play golf. So, in effect. It is a therapy for stress.

Q: Who are the personalities who will go to your tournament?

SPJPE: I don't know. Alam mo I have never attended that cup. I never attended the cup that was attributed to me.

Q: Was the First Gentleman invited?

SPJPE: No. I don't think he has ever played in Splendido. Alam mo yung Splendido, I don't know, I have not seen the First Gentleman play golf. Pero, I know he is a good golfer. Splendido is a different kind of golf tour. It requires precision shots. Modesty aside, I played golf the greater part of my professional life and I used to play with the likes of Donald .., Greg Norman, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, who used to come to Manila, and we used to play with them. And Johnny Miller, that's how I am. But in playing Splendido, I used to be a low handicapper. I used to have the handicap of four. I used to play in the mid and high 70s. I tell you that Splendido is a golf course where I cannot...

Q: May decision ho yung supreme court ngayon na i-uphold VFA?

SPJPE: Natural lang yun . That was expected. That was given because it was a valid treaty...then that ought to be...as they said, "negotiate an arrangement for the custodial detention of Smith under Philippine jurisdiction". Yun ba gusto nila? That is the function of the Department of Foreign Affairs...dapat lang...dapat lang. The crime was committed in the Philippines, and if he was charged under a Philippine law, which imposes the penalty, the detention must be done under Philippine law, by a Philippine agency.

Q: Saan ho dapat dalhin?

SPJPE: Kung sa Amerika nangyari yun, eh hindi kailangan sa hotel. Ilalagay sya sa karsel. Ang karsel natin, eh sa Muntilupa. ...Well, if he committed a crime under a Philippine law, then he must, like all persons charged with crime under Philippine law, go to Muntinlupa. So, there's no exception for Mr. Smith. He must go to Muntinlupa.

Q: ...Si Paule, question nya kung bakit sa city jail sya ide-detain.

SPJPE: ...he was given all the leeway to question our conduct. We are not infallible. I encouraged them to go to court so that, we have rules of the game, so to speak, established by our supreme court.

Q: ...he remains to be evasive...

SPJPE: You should expect that because he committed a crime, he will not accept that he committed a crime. My experience is that a guy who is guilty will deny, all, deny, deny...even if...he will say he did not do that.

Q: Ni-recap na yung hearing di b a?

SPJPE: Yah, but the fact is that he is still under the jurisdiction of the Senate, and he committed a contempt of the Senate, and he has to be, he was tried for contempt, we imposed the contempt on him, and he will have to be detained, let him question the detention, and then it is up to the court.

Q: ...Magiging official detention ng Senate?

SPJPE: It depends upon the sentence of the committee.

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