MANILA, Philippines – “As if nothing happened,” is how Katrina Enrile, daughter of former Senate president and now Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, describes the relationship between her father and the late president Ferdinand E. Marcos – even after the elder Enrile turned against the dictator in the days leading to his ouster nearly 37 years ago.

Enrile, then defense minister, was among the key figures who withdrew support for the elder Marcos in February 1986, a turning point in what’s referred to as the People Power Revolution.

Speaking to journalist Ces Drilon on her show Usapang Bilyonaryo, Katrina was asked about calls to boycott her canned goods brand Delimondo, on account of Enrile’s turnaround – from denouncing the former president to now being chief legal adviser of the incumbent president.

“There is such a thing as people being able to communicate, being true and having that real good conversation. That has happened. Reasons have been said and explained and I think if it’s from the heart, if you’re really talking from the truth about what really transpired, there’s always room for forgiveness,” said Katrina, referring to her father’s history.

The political comeback of Juan Ponce Enrile

Pressed if the elder Enrile asked for forgiveness, Katrina said he did – though she didn’t specify if the recipient was Marcos Jr. or his father. “He never really betrayed Marcos…it was not like that,” she added.

When Drilon pointed out that Marcos back then wanted Enrile arrested after the former learned about the brewing coup d’etat back in 1986, Katrina said: “Because of what was being fed to [former] president Marcos and it was those people who [were] drawing a wedge between the two. My dad idolized [then-]president Marcos, he still does.”

Yet as events transpired in February 1986, in the days leading to the military-backed civilian unrest, Enrile was clear in rejecting Marcos as president on account of election “anomalies.”

In a press conference on February 22, 1986 in Camp Aguinaldo, Enrile said: “Well, for myself, if I may say this, I believe that the mandate of the people does not belong to the present regime. And I know it is for a fact, that there had been some anomalies committed during the elections; and I search my conscience; and I felt that I could not serve a government that is not expressive of the sovereign will.”

Then-president Marcos defeated opposition leader Corazon “Cory” Aquino in the “snap” presidential elections in February 1986 by a slim margin, but the election anomalies prompted widespread protests that led to his downfall.

Asked in the same press conference if it was true that former president Marcos wanted him arrested, Enrile said: “There was information to round up members of the Reform Movement. And this afternoon, my boys came to my house and caused me to get out and come to this place because we might all be rounded up. I said information reached us that there was supposed to be an effort to arrest all the members of the Reform Movement and this afternoon, some of my boys came to my house and asked me to move to Camp Aguinaldo because we have to group there because there is a possibility that we will all be rounded up.”

“Reform Movement” refers to the Reform the Armed Forces Movement or RAM, an organization of young officers who were disgruntled over the corruption and politics in the military. Enrile, as defense chief, gave his blessings for the organization to continue. Its head, after all, was his security officer, then-lieutenant colonel Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan II.

Yet 36 years after Marcos’ ouster, Enrile serves another Marcos also in Malacañang: Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who won by a majority in the May 2022 elections.

Katrina recalled that she herself jumpstarted the process for the elder Marcos and her father to speak again. When she traveled to the US after the EDSA revolt, she made a side trip to visit the exiled Marcos clan in Hawaii without her father’s knowledge. “[I regretted what happened to their relationship] moreso for the friendship and the respect they had for each other,” she explained.

The former president almost walked out on her before he relented and spoke to her for over three hours. She then went home with a tape recording of his message to her father. The former dictator, said Katrina, understood why the elder Enrile did what he did.

Enrile, now 98, was among the first appointments of Marcos Jr. after assuming the presidency. The chief legal counsel holds office in Malacañang, where he once served the current president’s father and namesake. – Rappler.com

From Marcos to Marcos: Enrile, the consummate political survivor