Headlines

Imee Marcos: Hiring Enrile as counsel a last-minute decision

July 26, 2017 | 11:25am

Imee Marcos: Hiring Enrile as counsel a last-minute decision

Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos, right, shakes hands with Majority Leader Rodolfo Farinas, left, as the Marcos' legal adviser, former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, center, looks on during a congressional inquiry at the House of Representatives in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on Tuesday July 25, 2017. The inquiry is based on a resolution filed by Farinas asking the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability to look into the alleged anomalous vehicle purchases of the Ilocos Norte province using the tobacco excise tax fund. Six employees of the provincial government who were cited in contempt and detained for being evasive in their answers during the hearings were also released Tuesday. AP/Aaron Favila

MANILA, Philippines — Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos on Wednesday said that consulting former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile for the House probe on tobacco excise tax funds was a last-minute decision.

On Tuesday, the eldest daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos attended the House inquiry on the allegedly anomalous use of Ilocos Norte's tobacco excise tax shares.

Enrile, Defense minister during the Marcos regime, served as the younger Marcos' counsel during the hearing of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability.

"Si JPE last minute... Nagkakalampagan, somebody said 'Did you consult na si Manong Johnny?' Tapos tinawagan ko then he said 'O, sama ako.' Last minute, hindi ko na naisip, and I figured there’s nobody who knows these things better," Marcos said in an interview on ANC's Headstart.

At the start of House inquiry, Enrile said that he is rendering his service to the Ilocos Norte governor pro bono and in grateful appreciation to her deceased father, whom the former Marcos official helped depose in 1986.

The Ilocos Norte governor added that getting Enrile as her counsel for the House hearing was not an "intimidating factor."

"Sabi niya, pag uminit ang ulo mo, ang unang mapikon matatalo. So, 'yun ang usapan namin na 'wag mainit ang ulo. Sumagot lang nang sumagot, mahinahon, at ganyan talaga ang proseso ng Congress at ng Senado," she said.

Former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza, another Marcos-era official, also served as a lawyer for the Ilocos Norte governor.

Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas,Ilocos Norte representative and a political rival of Marcos, said that the governor must be "in real deep s***" to hire Enrile and Mendoza.

Marcos, however, clarified that Mendoza volunteered to help her as he is very concerned about the illegal detention of the "Ilocos 6" — officials of the provincial government that the House cited in contempt and detained.

"He really focused on the Ilocos 6 at siya ang tumulong sa amin, siya pa ang um-appeal, siya pa ang nag-argue kahit hirap na hirap siya dahil matanda na rin," she said.

The House earlier ordered the detention of six Ilocos Norte provincial officers for 55 days for refusing to answer questions at a committee hearing on Marcos' alleged misuse of P66.5 million in tobacco funds.

The six were later on freed after telling the panel about the three huge cash advances they received and their procurement of 40 minicabs, five buses and 70 mini-trucks. The tobacco excise tax funds were meant to pay for projects that would benefit tobacco farmers.