Juan Ponce Enrile

Juan Ponce Enrile
26th President of the Senate of the Philippines
Incumbent
Assumed office November 17, 2008
President	Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (2008-2010) Benigno S. Aquino III (2010-present)
Preceded by	Manny Villar
Senator of the Philippines
Incumbent
Assumed office June 30, 2004
In office June 30, 1995 – June 30, 2001
In office June 30, 1987 – June 30, 1992
Member of the Philippine House of Representatives from Cagayan's First District
In office June 30, 1992 – June 30, 1995
Preceded by	Domingo A. Tuazon
Succeeded by	Patricio T. Antonio
Mambabatas Pambansa (Assemblyman) from Cagayan
In office June 30, 1984 – March 25, 1986 Served with: Antonio C. Carag Alfonso R. Reyno, Jr.
Mambabatas Pambansa (Assemblyman) from Region II
In office June 12, 1978 – June 5, 1984
Secretary of National Defense
In office January 4, 1972 – November 23, 1986
President	Corazon Aquino Ferdinand Marcos
Preceded by	Ferdinand Marcos
Succeeded by	Rafael Ileto
In office February 9, 1970 – August 27, 1971
President	Ferdinand Marcos
Preceded by	Ernesto Mata
Succeeded by	Ferdinand Marcos
Secretary of Justice
In office December 17, 1968 – February 7, 1970
President	Ferdinand Marcos
Preceded by	Claudio Teehankee, Sr.
Succeeded by	Felix Makasiar
Acting Secretary of Finance
In office 1966–1968
President	Ferdinand Marcos
Preceded by	Eduardo Romualdez
Succeeded by	Eduardo Romualdez
Personal details
Born	Juanito Furagganan (1924-02-14) February 14, 1924 Gonzaga, Cagayan, Philippines
Died	President of the Senate
Resting place	President of the Senate
Political party	Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (2001-present) Independent (1995-2001) Nacionalista (1965-1972; 1987-1995) KBL (1978-1986)
Spouse	Cristina Castañer
Children	Juan Ponce Enrile, Jr. Katrina Ponce Enrile
Parent	President of the Senate
Residence(s)	Gonzaga, Cagayan Dasmariñas Village, Makati City, Metro Manila
Occupation	Lawyer, Politician

Juan Ponce Enrile (born February 14, 1924) is a Filipino politician. As a protege of President Ferdinand Marcos, he served as Justice Secretary and then Defense Secretary under the Marcos regime. He later became one of the leaders (along with General Fidel V. Ramos) of the 1986 People Power Movement that drove Marcos from power. Enrile has continued to be a prominent politician since then; he has been President of the Senate of the Philippines since November 2008.

Early life and career

Juan Ponce Enrile was born Juanito Furagganan in Gonzaga, Cagayan, to Petra Furagganan, the daughter of a poor fisherman. He was born out of wedlock—his father was the already married powerful regional politician and renowned lawyer Alfonso Ponce Enrile. He is the second great-nephew of Mariano Ponce. He was reunited with his father by the time he reached his high school years.

He graduated cum laude in 1949 with an Associate of Arts degree at the Ateneo de Manila University. Afterward, he attended the University of the Philippines College of Law and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Laws degree. While in law school, he joined the Sigma Rho fraternity. Upon graduation, he was elected to the prestigious Pi Gamma Mu and Phi Kappa Phi international honor societies. He achieved the 11th highest score in the 1953 bar examinations with a 91.72% rating and a perfect score in mercantile law. As a scholar at the Harvard Law School, he earned a Master of Laws degree with specialized training in international tax law.

He taught law at the Far Eastern University and practiced law in his father’s law firm before taking responsibility for then-senator Marcos’s personal legal affairs in 1964. After Marcos was elected president in 1965, Enrile became part of his inner circle.

From 1966 to 1968, he was the Undersecretary and sometime Acting Secretary of the Department of Finance. He concurrently became acting Insurance Commissioner and Commissioner of the Bureau of Customs. From 1968 to 1970, he was the Secretary of the Department of Justice.

Secretary of Defense

Secretary of Defense Juan Ponce Enrile with President Ferdinand Marcos.

In 1970, he was appointed Secretary of the Department of National Defense. He left his post in 1971 to run unsuccessfully for a Senate seat.

Enrile was appointed Defense Chief in 1972. One of Marcos' justifications for the declaration of martial law that year was terrorism. He cited the alleged bombing attack on Enrile's car on September 21, 1972.

In 1973, under the new modified parliamentary system then in place under the country's new constitution, Enrile's title became Defense Minister. As Defense Minister, he presided over the Executive Committee of the National Security Council, making him one of the prime architects of Marcos' martial rule. As a requirement for his position as part of the cabinet under the parliamentary system, he won an election for assemblyman representing Cagayan Valley for the Interim Batasang Pambansa in 1978.

As the 1980's began, Marcos began to disregard Enrile's authority as defense secretary when he changed the chain of command in the military that would evolve from him as president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces to his trusted military officer, General Fabian Ver, then the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Meaning, Enrile was bypassed and officers with close ties with him were being removed from command positions or being demoted and sometimes, would be retired from military service.

After opposition leader Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. was assassinated on August 21, 1983, Enrile knew that he had to break away from the increasingly unpopular Marcos dictatorship. He began aligning himself with dissident elements in the army, particularly the Reform the Armed Forces Movement - which was then headed by his Aide-de-camp, Lt. Col. Gregorio Honasan. Officers from this group, with Enrile's support, launched a coup d’état against Marcos in February 1986.

Marcos was alerted to the plot by then General Ver, and the conspirators took refuge in two military camps. From there, Ponce Enrile and then Lt. General Fidel Ramos, the head of the Philippine Constabulary (now the Philippine National Police) and concurrently vice-chief of staff of the armed forces, rallied opponents against Marcos in a citizens' revolt that became known as the People Power Revolution.

At the same time, Enrile revealed details of the public deception he had perpetuated while serving in the Marcos government. This included being aware of fraudulent voting in the 1986 presidential election and faking an assassination attempt on his own life in 1972, which helped provide Marcos with the justification for declaring martial law.

Juan Ponce Enrile emerged as one of the heroes of the People Power Movement, although the reasons for his involvement with the movement were highly disputed. In the post-martial law era, rumors spread that Ramos and Enrile were among those involved in Aquino's assassination. It is alleged that, in order not to be accused along with the Marcoses, the two plotted a coup against the president.

Enrile served as Secretary of National Defense under Corazon Aquino, who had replaced Marcos as president, but he increasingly differed with Aquino, specifically on the administration's handling of insurgent leftist opposition. As a result, he was forced to resign as Defense Secretary in November 1986.

Congressional career

First Senate term

In May 1987, he won a seat in the 1987 election as one of two opposition members in the country’s 24-member Senate (the other being Joseph Estrada). In August 1987, an attempted coup against Aquino escalated and led to the destruction of the Armed Forces General Headquarters (AFPGHQ) in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. He was detained in Camp Aguinaldo over suspicion of planning the coup with Lt. Col. Gregorio Honasan, but was released days later for lack of evidence.

Member of the House of Representatives

In 1992, before his term in the Senate had ended, Ponce Enrile predicted that he might lose the senatorial election or win, but only serve three years in office. Under the transitory provisions of the 1987 Constitution, the 12 candidates who receive the greatest number of votes serve a six year term, the next 12 only three years. He ran instead for the House of Representatives of the Philippines. He was elected and represented the First District of Cagayan.

Second to fourth senate terms

In 1995, he ran in the senatorial race as an independent candidate for senator and was also a guest candidate under the Lakas-Laban coalition. He won as senator and held the position until 2001. During his term as senator, he ran as an independent candidate in the 1998 election for the position of President. He lost to then Vice President Joseph Estrada.

On January 13, 2001 he was one of those who voted against the opening of the second bank envelope. That vote led to the second EDSA People Power Revolution that eventually ousted President Estrada. In May 2001, he was indicted by the military for the investigation of the unsuccessful siege of the Malacañang Palace by pro-Estrada forces. He was released a day later. He ran for reelection as part of the Puwersa ng Masa coalition. Due to the issues that haunted him over the failed siege, he lost the election.

In the 2004 election, he made a comeback bid for the Senate under the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) banner. He actively opposed the imposition of the Purchased Power Adjustment (PPA) on consumers' electric bills. Due to his exposé of the PPA and the Supreme Court decision in favour of a refund on electric bills, the public responded positively and elected him. He thus became a senator in three non-consecutive terms.

He is affiliated with the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP). Technically he belongs to an opposition party, but in the Senate, he stands as an independent and is part of the administration bloc. The minority bloc includes all of his party's members.

Senate Presidency

Election

On November 17, 2008, Senate President Manuel Villar resigned due to lack of support, and Enrile succeeded him the same day. Enrile was nominated by Panfilo Lacson; 14 senators supported the nomination and five abstained. Enrile accepted the position, saying that "To lead the Senate with its great minds, strong advocacies, varying and independent political beliefs and leanings, is not an easy task. But it is precisely this variance in points of view and the battle of great ideas that provide the dynamism we need to craft legislation that takes into account and balances the competing interests involved – with the end in view of serving the greater good of the people to whom we owe our mandate."

Legislation

Under his leadership, the Senate passed vital pieces of legislation such as the CARP Extension, Anti-Torture Act, Expanded Senior Citizens Act, Anti-Child Pornography Act, National Heritage Conservation Act, Real Estate Investment Act, among many others. Institutional reforms were also implemented within the Senate to improve the daily conduct of business as well the welfare of its officers and employees.

Maguindanao martial law

The Senate also collaborated with the House of Representatives on two crucial issues which are now considered historical milestones. In December 2009, it used Proclamation No. 1959 of the previous administration, declaring a state of martial law and suspending the writ of habeas corpus in the province of Maguindanao, while in May 2010, Congress convened to constitute itself as the national board to canvass the votes for president and vice president, and proclaim the winners.

Re-election as Senate President

Enrile was re-elected to a fourth term in the 2010 Senate election. On July 26, 2010, he was re-elected President of the Senate. Enrile committed himself to "discharge my duties and responsibilities with honor, with total devotion to our institution, and with fairness to all members. No partisan consideration will blur or color the treatment of any member of the Senate. We are all Senators elected by the people to serve them with dedication to their interest and well-being and devotion to our responsibilities." Furthermore, in his acceptance speech, he enjoined his colleagues to "uphold the independence and integrity of this Senate, without abandoning our duty to cooperate with the other departments of the government to achieve what is good for our people."

Personal life

Manong Johnny, as he is often called, ("Manong" is an Ilocano affectionate term for an older brother) is married to Cristina Castañer, a Filipina of Spanish ancestry who in 2008 was named Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See. They have two children: Juan, Jr. and Katrina. Juan Ponce Enrile, Jr. is currently a congressman representing the 1st District of Cagayan. Katrina Ponce Enrile is the current CEO of Enrile's company Jaka Group. The Jaka Group owns the Philippine Match Company, the Philippines' leading match maker.

Seeking clemency for those convicted of the Aquino assassination

On August 21, 2007, the 24th anniversary of Senator Aquino's death, Juan Ponce Enrile stated that the case of the 14 soldiers incarcerated for 24 years for his assassination should be reviewed for clemency. Enrile paid for the legal services of the soldiers during their trial, and said the soldiers and their families had suffered enough. Fifteen soldiers of the Aviation Security Command had been sentenced to double life imprisonment for the double murder of Aquino and his alleged lone communist gunman, Rolando Galman, and one of them had since died. They were all acquitted on December 1985 by the Sandiganbayan's Manuel Pamaran, but when the entire proceedings were invalidated by the Supreme Court and the case retried, the Sandiganbayan's Regino C. Hermosisima, Jr. (promoted to Supreme Court Justice) convicted them again on September 28, 1990.

External links

• [1]
• [2]
• Juan Ponce Enrile's Assets and Liabilities
• Juan Ponce Enrile's Official Philippine Senate biography