Seares: Juan Ponce Enrile’s ‘illucid interval’

IN a one-on-one TV conversation called “Enrile: A Witness to History,” with former senator and defeated vice presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos as interviewer, Juan Ponce Enrile declared that not one person “was arrested because of political or religious belief” during the Marcos martial law. Aired last Sept. 21, the two-part talk program obviously tried to scrub martial law-tarnished images of Enrile and the Marcoses.

Now Enrile, in last week’s interview with One News Channel, says (a) he doesn’t remember that he said it, (b) no, he didn’t say it, or (c) if he said it, it must have been when he was dumb or stupid.

Only ‘lucid interval’

There is no phrase “illucid interval” in law. Or even with the words dictionaries use: “non-lucid interval” or “un-lucid interval.” The legal phrase “lucid interval” means “a brief period during which an insane person regains sanity that is sufficient to regain the legal capacity to contract or act on his behalf.”

In other words, “lucid intervals” are the few in-between moments when the insane is sane. Conversely, “illucid interval” must mean the moment when the sane is insane or, in a lesser degree, when the sane is just dumb or stupid.

Being plain to voters

Anyone, of course, is free to create new words or expand or alter meaning: to sound clever, to clarify or to confuse. Enrile the lawyer and legislator can do what he wishes with the legal prose. He is not speaking in court; he is, in effect, talking with people, many of whom still have to decide whether to vote for him.

To the electorate, he needs to be straightforward. His explanation about lapses into being insane or dumb or stupid wasn’t being honest. Did he or did he not lie?

Actually, people didn’t have to rely on his word. His talk with Bongbong-–as well as his other claims and reversals--was recorded, reported in media and commented on. His denial or non-denial is useful only to assess his sense of regret.

‘State of mind’

Had Enrile not decided to file a certificate of candidacy for senator, the public could’ve left alone his state of mind. Voters wonder if he might have his “illucid interval” on the legislative floor.

He said he is joining the campaign “for fun,” but then campaigning across the nation would not be a lark. He and his doctors swore to before the Supreme Court that Enrile was in such poor state of health he had to be released on bail.

True, Enrile is a household name, with high marks on “awareness” by the people surveyed. But his latest caper--being charged with high crime of corruption and lying about the martial law he enforced as defense minister–-would require a vigorous campaign to sell himself to the voters. “Awareness” of Enrile must translate into “desire to vote” for Enrile.

Benefit of doubt, risk

Many voters may be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that his age won’t incapacitate him to do legislative work (“they don’t wrestle at the Senate”). But would they still take him in, with his lying in the effort to revise the roles he and the Marcoses played during martial law?

And there’s the risk from the criminal charges he is facing. They could send him back to jail.

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