13/11/2025
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Proving some truth to the Filipino saying "ang masamang damo, matagal mamatay", Juan Ponce F. Enrile finally died today, November 13, 2025, at 101 years old after a lifetime of corruption and political opportunism.
Enrile was born to the mistress of married politician Alfonso Ponce Enrile on February 14, 1924, 2 years before the birth of the late Queen Elizabeth II and 11 years before the creation of the Philippine Commonwealth and the presidency of Manuel L. Quezon. The first four decades of his life were known mainly for his high Bar scores, academic achievements, and law professorshipβuntil 1964, when he took over the personal legal affairs of a corrupt Senator named Ferdinand Emmanuel E. Marcos.
When Marcos was elected President in 1965, Enrile was rewarded with an appointment as chief of the Bureau of Customs and Insurance Commissioner. Marcos later appointed him to the Department of Finance, Department of Justice, andβin 1970βas Secretary (later Minister) of National Defense, in which capacity he would become Martial Law Administrator.
Enrile oversaw the implementation of the darkest 14 years in Philippine historyβthe Marcos Dictatorshipβwith at least 3,257 recorded extrajudicial killings (EJKs), 35,000 documented tortures, 737 forced disappearances, and 70,000 imprisoned. No future period (to date) would come close in atrocities until the 30,000+ mass murders of the Duterte regime from 2016-2022.
Ever the political chameleon and opportunist, Enrile would turn against his mentor Marcos in 1986, after serving him loyally for two decades. With Marcos already on the losing side as mass protests and defecting allies both local and overseas, Enrile joined General Fidel V. Ramos as the catalysts of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution.
Enrile would avoid any punishment for his crimes during Martial Law, bending with political winds during successive presidencies, and even becoming Senate President. The closest he came to facing justice while alive was when he was imprisoned under the PNoy administration following Enrile's involvement in the 2013 PDAF Scam with Janet Napolesβonly to get away once again after being allowed to get out of jail acquitted in 2024 by the Sandiganbayan, where a majority of sitting justices were Duterte appointees.
In 2019, Enrile, barely able to walk, ran for the Senate and lost. He returned to government one last time following his 2022 appointment as Bongbong Marcos' Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, eventually dying in office. May he face justice for all his crimes in the afterlife, as he looks up at the country he exploited for generations.
