Juan Ponce Enrile (born February 14, 1924) is a political figure in the Philippines. Originally a Justice Secretary and Defense Minister of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos he later became a leader in the 1986 People Power Movement that drove President Ferdinand Marcos from power. He is a current senator of the Philippines.
Enrile was born in Gonzaga, Cagayan to 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 Enrile. In 1949, he graduated cum laude with a degree of Associate in Arts at the Ateneo de Manila University. He took a degree of Bachelor of Laws and graduated cum laude at the University of the Philippines College of Law. Upon graduation, he was elected to the prestigious Pi Gamma Mu and Phi Kappa Phi international honor societies. In the 1953 bar examinations, he ended up at the 11th highest score with a 91.72% rating and a perfect score in Taxation Law. He became a scholar at the Harvard Law School where he earned the degree Master of Laws with specialized training in International Tax.
He taught law at the Far Eastern University and practiced as a partner 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 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 became Secretary of the Department of Justice. In 1970, he was appointed Secretary of the Department of National Defense.
In 1972, one of Marcos' reasons for the declaration of martial law was terrorism. He cited the bombing of Enrile's car. In 1973, Enrile's title became Defense Minister. As Defense Minister, he presided the Executive Committee of the National Security Council.
As a requirement for his position as part of the cabinet under the parliamentary system, he ran and won as Assemblyman and represented Cagayan Valley for the Interim Batasang Pambansa in 1978.After opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. was assassinated in 1983, Enrile became fearful for his safety. As the Marcos dictatorship became increasingly unpopular, Enrile began aligning himself with dissident elements in the army, particularly the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM). Officers from this group, with Enrile's support, moved to launch a coup d'état against Marcos in February 1986. Marcos was alerted to the plot, and the conspirators took refuge in two military camps. From there, Enrile and Fidel Ramos, the head of the Philippine Constabulary (now the Philippine National Police), rallied opponents against Marcos in a citizen revolt that became known as the People Power Movement. At the same time, Enrile revealed details of the public deception he had perpetuated while serving in Marcos's government. This included being aware of fraudulent votes 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. Enrile emerged as one of the perceived '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 had spread that Ramos and Enrile were among the two think tanks in the assassination of "Ninoy" Aquino. It is alleged that in order not to be accused with the Marcoses, the two plotted a coup against the president.He served as minister of national defense under Corazon Aquino, who replaced Marcos as president, but Enrile increasingly differed with Aquino. She forced Enrile to resign as defense minister in November 1986. In May 1987 he won election as one of two opposition members of the country's 24-member Senate (the other one is Joseph Estrada). In August 1987, a coup against Aquino escalated and it brought to the destruction of the Armed Forces headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. He was detained in a house-type quarters in Camp Aguinaldo over suspicion of planning the coup with Gregorio Honasan. He was released days after due to lack of evidence.
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