Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile during the sectoral meeting at the Malacañang Palace on Tuesday, February 13, 2024. Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Enrile will celebrate his 100th birthday on Feb 14. KJ Rosales, PPA Pool
MANILA — Veteran politician Juan Ponce Enrile, a top aide of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and of the incumbent president’s father, has passed away.
He was 101 years old.
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Enrile died “peacefully” around 4 p.m., surrounded by his family in their home, said his daughter Katrina Ponce Enrile.
“It was his heartfelt wish to take his final rest at home, with his family by his side. We were blessed to honor that wish and to be with him in those sacred final moments,” she said,
“He dedicated much of his life to the service of the Filipino people. 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 was the long-time defense minister and Martial Law administrator of then President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. when he placed the country under one-man rule in 1972 — a period marked by killings and other rights abuses.
In 1986, Enrile joined a military-backed bloodless “People Power” uprising that sent the Marcos family into exile in the United States.
“My advice is let us leave these things behind us. Because we are beset with so many problems that we must tackle. If we’re going to keep thinking always about these things, let historians make judgment in the future. Tapos na ‘yun. History na ‘yun,” Enrile said of Martial Law in a 2018 interview.
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In 2022, Enrile backed the successful presidential candidacy of Marcos’s son and namesake, who later named him to his Cabinet as presidential legal counsel.
SENATE STINT
Enrile was first elected to the Senate from 1987 until 1992, followed by a term in the House of Representatives until 1995.
He returned to the Senate in 1995, and in 2004, made a comeback bid for his third Senate term. He was reelected for a fourth term in 2010 with his trademark spiel “Gusto ko happy ka.”
He led the legislative chamber twice—first under the administration of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from 2008 to 2010, and again under Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III from 2010 to 2013.
It was under Enrile’s leadership that the Senate first ousted a chief justice, the late Renato Corona, in 2013. Enrile was the 20th senator to convict Corona over the latter’s failure to declare his wealth.
But Enrile’s time at the Senate wasn’t always smooth-sailing as he faced plunder and graft charges for his alleged role in the multibillion-peso Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.
He was arrested in July 2014 while he was a sitting senator, but he was promptly moved to a hospital and allowed to post bail 13 months later due to his advanced age.
Enrile passed away just weeks after he was acquitted of graft for the PDAF scam, after a trial lasting 10 years. He was acquitted of plunder in 2024.
“I knew all along that I will be acquitted because we have not done anything in this case. And I hope the people who filed those cases against us will examine their conscience,” Enrile told reporters last year.
‘IMMORTAL’
Born on February 14, 1924, Enrile was the oldest member of Marcos’ Cabinet.
He has been dubbed by some social media users as “immortal” after outliving both UK’s Queen Elizabeth and King Rama IX of Thailand, two of the longest reigning monarchs in the 20th century.
He had credited leafy vegetables and religious exercise for helping him fight aging.
“I am fortunate to have received from my Creator a longer time here on earth. That’s longevity, not immortality,” he told ABS-CBN News in 2019.
