Juan Ponce Enrile during an event in Manila in 2014.- Bloomberg
MANILA, June 18 (The Straits Times/ANN): President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr has appointed as his legal counsel the same man who, as defence minister more than 36 years ago, helped hatch a coup that forced his father - the Philippines' autocratic president from 1965 to 1986 - to flee the country in shame.
Juan Ponce Enrile "reaffirmed his commitment to serve the country and ensure the success of the incoming Marcos administration", Marcos Jr's spokesman Trixie Angeles told reporters on Friday (June 17).
Angeles said that Enrile, 98, released a statement saying: "I will devote my time and knowledge for the republic and for (Mr Marcos Jr) because I want him to succeed."
Enrile was defence minister and had been a loyal enforcer for then President Ferdinand Marcos before he linked up with police chief Fidel Ramos to plot a coup in 1986, shortly after the 1985 elections that many believed the dictator rigged to thwart a challenge mounted by pro-democracy icon Corazon Aquino.
Allegations of election fraud later fuelled massive protests in the capital Manila.
On Feb 22, 1986, Enrile and Ramos announced in a news conference that they were breaking away from Marcos, and called on him to step down.
The two and hundreds of security forces still loyal to them then barricaded themselves inside the military's sprawling camp in Manila, as they sought to rally more military units to their side.
That set off the "People Power" revolt that, days later, saw the Marcoses, including a 28-year-old Marcos Jr, being flown out of the Philippines by an American military plane.
Enrile went on to serve as defence minister under Mrs Aquino, who took over from Marcos, but turned on her as well.
Aquino sacked him after he was tagged in the "God Save the Queen" coup plot to oust her in November 1986.
Enrile then pursued a long career as senator from 1987 to 2014, when he was suspended as Senate president after he was indicted and jailed briefly for embezzlement under the government of Mrs Aquino's son, Benigno Aquino III.
He ran again for senator in 2019, but placed only 22nd out of 62 candidates, and has been in retirement since.
Enrile is rejoining the government after a full-throated endorsement of Marcos Jr in the just-concluded elections.
His statement that there were no human rights abuses during martial rule, from 1972 to 1983, played into Marcos Jr's narrative that his father's reign, though harsh, had been benevolent and prosperous for the Philippines.
Enrile's appointment as presidential legal counsel came along with an announcement that Marcos Jr had named former military chief Jose Faustino as his defence minister.
General Faustino will initially be the officer-in-charge of the ministry, in line with a rule barring military officers taking up ministerial posts for a year after retirement.
He was the 10th military chief to serve under outgoing Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, leading the 143,000-strong military for four months last year.
Delfin Lorenzana, the current Defence Minister, said he is "confident... Gen Faustino will continue the (ministry's) momentum in our internal security and external defence operations, as well as the modernisation of the armed forces and the entire defence organisation".
Gen Faustino's appointment as defence minister is a sign that Mr Marcos Jr is unlikely to shake up a pro-American military establishment to please China.
Relations between the United States and the Philippines have been complicated under Duterte, who has criticised American foreign policy and sought closer ties with China since coming to power in 2016.
Marcos Jr, who is due to be sworn in as president on June 30, has yet to nominate his foreign affairs minister. - The Straits Times/ANN
