November 14, 2025 | 10:35am
MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Department of National Defense have mourned the passing of Juan Ponce Enrile with carefully worded statements that acknowledged the controversy surrounding the former defense chief who carried out Martial Law under the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
The AFP, in a statement released by public affairs chief Col. Xerxes Trinidad on Friday, described Enrile as having played “a consequential role in the nation’s security and political life” but notably referenced “the enduring debates about his legacy, which form part of our national history.”
Meanwhile, the DND was all praises for Enrile, whom it called “an icon in defense policy and strategy.” The department said Enrile “played a foundational role in building the modern Department of National Defense.”
The DND ordered its flag flown at half-mast to honor Enrile’s memory.
Enrile served as defense minister throughout the Martial Law period declared by former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in 1972. A 1972 ambush on Enrile — which he later admitted was staged — served as one of the pretexts for the declaration of martial law.
During Martial Law, Enrile oversaw the Philippines’ armed forces as Marcos’ Martial Law administrator. At least 3,200 people were killed during the period, with 70,000 imprisoned and 32,000 tortured, according to human rights records.
By the 1980s, Enrile broke with Marcos and aligned with the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, a group of dissident officers. When a planned coup was discovered in February 1986, Enrile and then-AFP Vice Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos holed up at Camp Aguinaldo and called for public support, triggering the People Power Revolution that toppled Marcos.
Enrile continued as defense minister under former President Corazon Aquino but was fired in November 1986 over alleged links to a coup plot.
He later spent years in the Senate and would be linked to the controversial pork barrel scam.
In 2022, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed the then-98-year-old Enrile as Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, a post he held until his death yesterday.
