With only three session days left, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Thursday said he will not be resigning from his post amid issues on how the chamber uses its funds.
"Why should I resign irrevocably? I have not done anything wrong," Enrile told reporters in an interview.
Enrile recently came under fire for admitting to an uneven distribution of maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) funds in the Senate, with his perceived allies receiving the bulk of it.
At the height of the controversy, Enrile, a veteran politician, even called for a vote of confidence, wherein senators voted 11-2 to retain him as Senate president.
Enrile's former chief of staff, Gigi Reyes, had earlier bared that he was contemplating resigning irrevocably.
On Thursday, Enrile said he has "studied the matter carefully" and that he decided it would be better to stay in his position."If I resign, I will be running away from responsibility and then the impression might be Enrile resigned because he is guilty. I'm not guilty of anything," he said.
"If there is anyone who is desirous to find out the truth they can file a case anywhere and i'll face them directly," he added.
He also explained that the Senate has already given its financial documents to the Commision on Audit (COA) on Wednesday, adding senators have also agreed not to liquidate expenses by certification anymore, which he noted was just an inherited practice.
"That manner of liquidation was there already. It was installed I understand in 1993 or 1994, I'm not sure," he said. — Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMA News
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