Juan Ponce Enrile dies at 101

MANILA, Philippines, November 14 ------ Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, a former Senate president and implementor of Martial Law during the Ferdinand Marcos regime, died on Thursday, November 13. He was 101 years old. “It is with profound love and gratitude that my father, Juan Ponce Enrile, peacefully returned to his Creator on November 13, 2025, at 4:21 p.m., surrounded by our family in the comfort of our home,” Enrile’s daughter, Katrina, said in a statement on her Facebook page. “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 added.

Enrile lived to see nearly all Philippine presidents while they were in power, with the sole exception of Emilio Aguinaldo who served from 1899 to 1901. He also served in government — either in the executive or legislative branch — under seven of them, from dictator Marcos to his son, incumbent President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. Enrile was born on February 14, 1924 in Gonzaga, Cagayan. He was baptized as Juanito Furagganan, taking his mother Petra’s maiden name, because he was born out of wedlock.

Juanito worked his way through poverty, then fought against the Japanese during World War II. After the war, he met his father, lawyer and ex-Cagayan congressman Alfonso Ponce Enrile. His name would later be legally changed to what he is known today. Enrile aspired to become a lawyer himself like his father. In 1953, he graduated from the University of the Philippines as a salutatorian and cum laude, and passed that year’s bar. In law practice, Enrile specialized in corporate and trial law, and soon took on high-profile cases. He got the attention of Marcos Sr., then a rising politician and Senate president. After he became president in 1965, Marcos enlisted Enrile to be part of his administration.

Enrile was first appointed finance undersecretary, then headed the Bureau of Customs and later the justice department before he was tapped as defense secretary. In that role, he became the architect and implementor of Marcos’ Martial Law, which ran from September 1972 to January 1981. When the People Power Revolution took place in 1986, Enrile broke away from Marcos and joined the opposition. Enrile continued to be defense minister under president Corazon Aquino, but lasted only for less than a year. He then went on to win four terms in the Senate, from 1987 to 1992, 1995 to 2001, and two consecutive terms from 2004 to 2016.

Between his first two Senate terms, he was congressman of Cagayan’s first district from 1992 to 1995. In the middle of his second Senate term, he ran for president, but placed 8th in the 10-person race. He became Senate president from 2008 to 2013. During this time, he presided over the impeachment trial of then-Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona.

In 2014, Enrile was among the three senators charged with plunder and graft in connection with the pork barrel corruption scandal. He was granted bail the following year by the Supreme Court due to humanitarian reasons. In late October, Enrile was cleared in all his cases, both plunder and graft, related to the pork barrel scam. Enrile is survived by wife Cristina Ponce Enrile and their two children, Juan Jr. (also known as Jack Enrile) and Katrina.

Source: rappler.com