Enrile’s ‘I am too old’ spiel

SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile appears to be exploiting his old age in tackling his critics.

He must be preempting his enemies: They haven’t used his being old to prop or push their argument. Has anyone said he should be replaced for being almost 88?

Not during the Corona trial, even when he couldn’t hear everything as words flew or when he often called a recess for bathroom trips.

Nobody called him old in recent wrangling over selective cash gifts from Senate savings, when he sounded grumpy and in need of anger management.

It’s JPE who’s saying JPE is too old.

[1] “I am too old to be threatened by anyone,” he said when a senator called for his removal.

[2] “I am too old to have a girlfriend,” he said after rumor of a love affair with Jessica “Gigi” Reyes, 50, his chief of staff, broke out anew.

Sweetheart

On [1], either he’s so powerful that he thinks he’s beyond intimidation or, less brusquely, he thinks his foes wouldn’t pick on an octogenarian. On [2], he may have confused active love-making with keeping a sweetheart.

But other than the lovey-dovey element, old age could be why JPE had given his chief more authority than any other Senate chief should: he couldn’t exercise power all by himself.

Delegating task is one thing; delegating entrusted power is another.

Gigi could release checks but she couldn’t decide that JPE’s enemies should get less than other senators. She couldn’t tangle with senators as if she were a senator herself.

[paseares@sunstar.com.ph]