Enrile announces retirement from public service

MANILA, Philippines — After more than 50 years of serving the government, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile announced that he will retire from public service during the last day of Senate session on Monday.

"Mister President and my esteemed colleagues in this chamber, this will be my last day to visit this chamber because when we adjourn at midnight today, I shall have closed my public service to the nation," Enrile said.

Enrile said that his public service spanned for more than half a century, noting that he started working for the government in January 1966.

"I served more than 20 years in the executive department in various capacities. I handled the financial system of the country. I have handled the justice system of the country when all courts below the Supreme Court were under the Secretary of Justice where I have been assigned," Enrile said.

The 92-year-old lawmaker served as acting Secretary of Finance from 1966 to 1968, Secretary of Justice from 1968 to 1970, and Minister of National Defense from 1972 to 1986.

Enrile spent four terms in the Senate and one term in the House of Representatives as representative of the first district of Cagayan.

"And all those years, Mr. President, I tried my best to serve the people because I felt that my call to service was something that I never intended in the first place but I was impressed into the service of the people and as a consequence I thought that it was a mission for me to do," the outgoing senator said.

The veteran senator thanked his colleagues, his staff and the Filipino people for supporting him during his term in the Senate.

"I would like to thank all of my colleagues and all those people that worked with me and beg their forbearance and understanding if in the heat of debate I somehow hurt them unwittingly or displeased them," Enrile said.

As he concludes his final speech on his last day as senator, Enrile quoted US General Douglas McArthur, "Like what McArthur said, all soldiers never die, they just fade away. I would say today, my last appearance in this chamber, old politicians never die, they will just fade away. My head was bloody but never bowed," the senator said.

Sens. Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Pia Cayetano, Bongbong Marcos, Serge Osmeña, Lito Lapid and TG Guingona also end their terms in the Senate today.

On August 2015, the Supreme Court allowed Enrile to post bail worth P1 million following his petition. Enrile, Estrada, and Revilla are facing graft and plunder charges in connection with the pork barrel scam.