MANILA: Juan Ponce Enrile – a powerful and influential political figure whose career spanned the Philippines’ most turbulent decades – died on Thursday (Nov 13). He was 101 years old.
His death was officially announced by his daughter, Katrina Ponce Enrile, in a post on X.
“It was his heartfelt wish to take his final rest at home, with his family by his side. We were blessed to honour that wish and to be with him in those sacred final moments,” said Ms Enrile.
“He dedicated much of his life to the service of the Filipino people,” said Enrile.
“At this time, we humbly ask for the public’s understanding as our family takes a brief moment to grieve privately and honor his memory together in quiet and in peace.”
Enrile’s death closes a long and often controversial chapter in Philippine history, one that he helped to write, rewrite and survive.
Enrile – a former defence minister and senator – was the architect of the martial rule that then President Ferdinand Marcos wielded to eliminate opposition to his rule and create a culture of mass kleptocracy that plunged the Philippines into widespread poverty.
But then, he also helped orchestrate a military coup that unseated Marcos in 1986.
Thereafter, he pursued a flourishing political career that saw him survive six presidents and allegations of destabilisation and massive corruption.
Born on Feb 14, 1924, Enrile was the illegitimate son of Alfonso Ponce Enrile, a powerful regional politician, and Petra Furagganan, who came from a poor peasant family.
His early life was marked by hardship and separation, but he wove his way into positions of power and influence with his intelligence and drive.
After finishing high school as valedictorian, he attended the state-run University of the Philippines, where he earned a law degree, graduating cum laude and topping the 1949 bar examination with one of the highest scores in its history.
He later obtained a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School.
His legal credentials and connections eventually caught the attention in the mid-1950s of then Representative Ferdinand Marcos, himself a rising political star.
Enrile eventually became one of Marcos’ most trusted advisers, helping draft economic and legal frameworks that supported the emerging strongman’s vision of technocratic rule.
Martial law enforcer
Enrile’s name became indelibly linked to the martial law era from 1972 to 1981, one of the most polarising periods in Philippine history.
As defence minister, he was instrumental in planning and implementing the declaration of martial law by Marcos on Sept 21, 1972.
Officially, the declaration was justified as a response to alleged communist and separatist threats.
Critics, however, have long accused Enrile – alongside Marcos – of engineering it to consolidate authoritarian control.
Enrile oversaw the expansion of the military’s influence, the suppression of dissent, and the arrest of opposition figures, including Marcos’ main rival, then Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.
In later years, he would alternately defend and distance himself from those actions.
His 2012 memoir depicted him as a reluctant participant who served to “stabilise the country”, though many historians have disputed this narrative.
Enrile’s greatest act of political defiance – and the one that changed the course of Philippine history – came in February 1986.
Following a disputed presidential election between Marcos and Aquino’s widow, Corazon Aquino, tensions within the regime reached a breaking point.
Together with then police chief Lieutenant-General Fidel Ramos, Enrile withdrew support from Marcos and barricaded himself inside Camp Aguinaldo.
Their defection sparked the Edsa “People Power” revolt, a four-day peaceful uprising that led to Marcos’ ouster.
Standing alongside Ramos on Feb 25, 1986, Enrile helped usher in a new democratic government under Aquino.
His participation – as a former enforcer of martial rule turned revolutionary – made him both hero and paradox, the insider who toppled his own regime.
Post-People Power career
Following the revolution, Enrile served briefly as defence minister under Corazon Aquino but was later dismissed after he was accused of fomenting dissent within the military. Nevertheless, his political resilience proved unmatched.
He returned to the national stage as a senator in 1987, serving for three decades.
As a lawmaker, he was known for his mastery of parliamentary rules and his keen grasp of lawmaking, often steering debates with precision and authority.
In 2008, he was elected Senate president, a position he held until 2013.
During this time, he presided over the historic impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, earning both praise for fairness and criticism for political manoeuvring.
Despite controversies – including his 2013 detention over alleged involvement in the pork barrel fund scandal, from which he was later released on humanitarian grounds — Enrile remained a figure of fascination and endurance.
His political survival through dictatorship, revolution, and democracy made him a symbol of both adaptability and moral ambiguity.
Even into his late 90s, Enrile continued to advise government officials and comment on national affairs.
In 2022, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr – the late dictator’s son – appointed him as chief presidential legal counsel, symbolically reuniting the two families once separated by revolution.
His longevity – both physical and political – became the stuff of legend and internet humour.
Filipinos crafted countless memes about his age and “immortality”, which he reportedly took in strides, once saying he was actually “flattered” by them. - The Straits Times/ANN
