Enrile buried at Libingan ng mga Bayani

CHIEF presidential legal counsel Juan Ponce Enrile was laid to rest on Saturday at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City, where he was accorded full military honors in recognition of his decades of service to the nation.Enrile, a long-time public servant, received full military honors led by Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.His casket was brought to the grave site through a funeral march, where his family and friends bid their final goodbye.Enrile died Thursday, Nov. 13. He was 101.Born in Gonzaga, Cagayan, on Feb. 14, 1924, Enrile has been a central figure in politics for seven decades, serving in key roles in both the legislative and executive branches.President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. honored Enrile, his chief legal counsel and “mentor,” during necrological rites in Malacañang on Friday.In his eulogy for his “Tito Johnny,” Marcos recalled the close relationship between their families and described Enrile as “my dad’s guy.”He said the Marcoses and Enriles found themselves “on the opposite sides of the barricade” during the EDSA People Power Revolt in February 1986.“And so it was always a little — I was always a little, ‘What will I do when I see Tito Johnny? How is it going to be? Will he be angry with me? Will he be very — will it be awkward?’ It wasn’t. It wasn’t,” Marcos said.“The relationship that we had forged between his family, my family, between himself, my father, between him and us, just took over,” he said.Enrile was the longtime defense minister of Marcos Jr.’s father, former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., serving in that post from January 1972, when martial law was declared, until February 1986, when he led a group of military officers who withdrew support to the latter following the fraud-marred snap presidential election.The breakaway triggered the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution that drove the Marcoses out of Malacañang.The former senator, who studied law at the University of the Philippines and Harvard Law School, served the first Marcos government as undersecretary, acting secretary, and concurrently acting insurance commissioner and Customs chief from 1966 to 1968. After that, he served as justice secretary until 1970.Enrile was appointed defense chief in early 1970, but his service was interrupted when he ran for senator in August 1971. He came back in early 1972 after he lost the race.As legislator and politician, Enrile served as a member of the Interim Batasang Pambansa, the rubber-stamp parliament, from 1978 to 1984, and in the regular Batasang Pambansa from 1984 to 1986.Enrile continued to hold the defense post under then-president Corazon Aquino until a falling out between him and the country’s new leader. He was fired in November 1986 for his alleged links to a coup plot dubbed “God Save the Queen.”He served four terms as senator (1987-1992, 1995-2001, 2004-2010, 2010-2016) and one term as Cagayan representative from 1992 to 1995.Enrile was Senate president from November 2008 until he resigned in June 2013. As the Senate leader, Enrile presided over the impeachment court that found Chief Justice Renato Corona guilty in 2012 of dishonesty in declaring his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.