Jackie Enrile: Never trust anybody, not even your own father
The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.
Who really is Juan ÒJackÓ Ponce Enrile, Jr. the only son and namesake of the controversial Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, now seeking to take his place in the Philippine Senate after four terms as Cagayan congressman? What are his views on his fatherÕs bestselling 753-page memoir, now already in its sixth printing?
Graduating as an English major from Christian Heritage College and with an MBA from Pepperdine University both in California, Jack worked for and later from 1994 to 1998 led his familyÕs JAKA Group of Companies as chief executive officer. He has been in politics since 1998 and is now a senatorial candidate of UNA.
Enrile recently granted Philippine STAR an exclusive no-holdsbarred two-hour interview at his Makati home. Excerpts:
PHILIPPINE STAR: Is it true what IÕve heard that, apart from riding motorcycles in your teens, youÕre a class A shooter?
JACK PONCE ENRILE: (Laughs) Before, maybe when I was young. You know, shooting is a perishable skill, especially if you no longer practice. I started shooting when I was 12, that was after my career in motorcycle (riding) was cut short by a bad accident.
President Noynoy Aquino is almost your age. Did you meet each other in shooting circles?
Noynoy went into shooting later.
Is it true I heard from one of your friends that youÕre better than Noynoy at shooting?
(Laughs) No, si Noynoy mas magaling sa shooting (Noynoy is better at shooting). I think he has kept up his proficiency with continuous practice.
Your fatherÕs nemesis Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, sheÕs good at shooting?
I donÕt know now, I think she was a good shooter in her younger days.
Can you outshoot Senator Miriam? How do you both compare?
WeÕre different. I think Miriam did shooting mainly for self-defense, but for me itÕs a sport.
I heard Miriam and your dad used to be quite close? Your views on their conflict?
Yes, sheÕs a goddaughter of my father. In fact, when she renewed her vows with Manong Jun during their 25th wedding anniversary in the 1990s, I represented my father as ninongÉ They are both very competent, very intelligent, both are political institutions. ItÕs unfortunate they can be disagreeable, but I believe this problem will eventually die down and they will learn to love each other again.
Why are you running for the Senate? YouÕve already got everything. What motivates you?
For me, admittedly, the first 40 years of my life were devoted mostly to myself and my family, but God has blessed us and I believe IÕm in a position to help others. I would like to dedicate the rest of my life to serve the public, whether in the private sector or in politics. IÕve (made) my mistakes, and I have no regrets in my life. I want to be instrumental, in some shape or fashion, in national development. I want to champion agriculture, food security and other advocacies. Win or lose in this Senate election, I donÕt want to die thinking I didnÕt try to make a positive difference.
Why say Òwin or loseÓ?
ThereÕs nothing sure in politics.
Did you learn that from your father?
Yes, he has run six times for the Senate. He has won four times and lost twice in 1971 and in 2001.
Was that the election after the opposition rally at Plaza Miranda was bombed by Communist rebels but blamed on Marcos?
Yes, my father was then with the Nacionalista Party. Manong Ernie Maceda was the only Nacionalista who won as senator in the 1971 election after the bombing.
How are you exactly related to the ilustrado revolutionary Mariano Ponce, who was friend to both Dr. Jose Rizal and ChinaÕs revolutionary hero Dr. Sun Yat Sen?
Mariano Ponce was my great-granduncle. He was the brother of my great-grandfather Damaso Ponce, who was like a sidekick to Mariano the treasurer of the Katipunan revolutionary secret society.
From whom did you learn all these tales of your forebears?
I learned about our familyÕs history from my uncles Chito and Toti.
Are these the half-brothers of your father, because he was born out of wedlock in the barrio? Yes, theyÕre my fatherÕs half-brothers. You know, when I was young, I was often wondering why my father was a little mestizo in his features but his brothers Chito and Toti were very mestizo. On the other hand, I also wondered why our father also had two other brothers, Dado and Eloy Ñ actually half-brothers from his motherÕs side Ñ who looked very different, with very Malay features. I was only wondering. I only came to learn my fatherÕs colorful life story when I was already a teenager.
Do you agree your fatherÕs colorful life would make a good movie?
TheyÕre actually making a telenovela on ABS-CBN 2. My father told me just this Monday.
When did you later first meet your real grandmother Petra Furugganan?
I grew up knowing all my uncles and aunts, and the grandmother I was introduced to by my father since I was a child was Lola Purita Liwanag Ponce Enrile, a beautiful Bulakea. I think I was only in my early 20s when I first met my real grandmother.
When was this and how did it happen?
I remember during a vacation from the States, my father had me tag along with him to Cagayan province for his speaking engagement in Tuguegarao City. I just decided to hire a car because I wanted to go to Aparri to visit my grandmother. I didnÕt know it would take me one and a half hours to drive there.
Everyone in Aparri knew where the house of the mother of Juan Ponce Enrile was. When I knocked on the door and it opened, I saw this old lady with tears flowing down her face.
Was your dad close to his mother?
My father was very close to her mom, but he tried to keep his past a secret, because he wanted to protect us, his children. My uncle Dado, he was born in 1916, my lola (grandma) was born in 1901, so she was already a mother at 15É Regardless of what, she was my lola whom we loved.
I met her in 1980 when she was close to 80 years old. Although we never grew up in Cagayan, I take pride in my roots there and I admire the hardworking and God-fearing Cagayan people.
Is it hard to be the son of a very famous person?
It is very hard to be the son of a famous father. In my case, you have to try three times as hard to be considered half as good as oneÕs father. But this comes with the territory, thatÕs my tough luck, no complaints.
I read some sons of famous fathers seem to become exact opposites or just fade away like the sons of President Quezon and General Douglas MacArthur. The only son of MacArthur even had to change his surname.
I am lucky, our parents allowed us to seek our own lives. I made mistakes Ñ as any man should Ñ but I learned from my mistakes. Our parents didnÕt micro-manage our lives.
Are you really the only son of your father?
(Laughs) Sa alam ko (As far as I know). So far, nobody has come forward claiming to be his sonÉ
Your grandfather Alfonso Ponce Enrile sired many kids from different women?
My late grandfather, he was handsome and had led a very cavalier life.
How many children in total did your grandfather have?
The last count, Lolo (Grandpa) had 17 kidsÉ certainly over a dozen.
Is it true you were bullied as a kid at the Ateneo? Do you remember them?
Yes, I was 10 years old in grade four. I remember them, but I donÕt want to name them. They were older, in grade seven. It was 1974, it was uso (the fad) then to shout Òtuta ni Marcos (lackeys of Marcos)!Ó
I remember I was on my way home and exactly where at the Ateneo, at a blind corner, that the three of them came out and pushed me around. They were badgering me. I was scared and pushed back, they then pushed me, I fell and they kicked me on the floor. One of them kicked me on the mouth and I split my lower lip, so I have a faint scar here up to now (points to her lower lip).
Were your parents angry or shocked?
I just told my parents I was kicked in football. I had blood on my shirt. My father only knew the real story last year during fatherÕs day in Cebu, when I recounted it during an interview. He was surprised and said: ÒMy God.Ó
It underscores the fact that whether in politics or in any profession, thereÕs often a price you pay, but it comes with the territory.
Were you a spoiled brat as the only son of the countryÕs most powerful man during martial law?
My father is Ilocano, he was so frugal and didnÕt spoil his children. We had a comfortable life, but our parents were not ostentatious.
What was your fatherÕs advice to you when you entered politics?
He said: ÒLet them see who Jack Enrile is. Just be who you are. Be humble.Ó
No advice about the treacheries or dangers in politics?
He said to me before: ÒNever trust anybody, not even your own father.Ó
Your father really advised you that? When?
He told me that when I was 15 or 16 years old. He said that because he lived his life and fought many battles. He went through hardships. He learned about life not from reading novels or books. He wanted that for us, too, somehow, he told us: ÒMake your own mistakes when IÕm still alive, so I can help you.Ó
What was the worst thing people have said against you?
That IÕm a killer.
So you have never, ever killed a person?
I never fired a shot in anger, never in my entire life. I always shoot at a paper target, or a metal plate, or when I used to hunt deer and wild boar here or in the States. IÕve hunted before in Ternate, Cavite when there was still wildlife there, also in Laguna, in Nasugbu, Batangas and in Maragondon in Cavite.
Is it true that you, an Atenean, and the only son of President Marcos, Bongbong of La Salle, were rivals?
Of course not. In truth, IÕve always considered Bongbong Marcos a gentleman. In fact, I can count with my 10 fingers the times we’ve met each other in our entire lives.
What about the e-mail I got that claims both your groups of bodyguards have, on at least four occasions, shot each other?
ThatÕs hogwash. The Internet is replete with sensational and untrue stories.
Your father in his book denied claims implicating you in the death of actor Alfie Anido on Dec. 30, 1981. He said that on Alfie’s birthday he got drunk in a rented house in Antipolo with other friends and had a quarrel with your sister Katrina, and that on the way back to Makati he even physically hit her. Your father never wrote about your going to the Anido house. Why were you there in the Anido house on that day in Bel-Air, Makati?
The reason we went there to the house, we heard on the radioÉ It was around dinnertime. I was eating at the Miyako eat-all-youcan restaurant across from the Dusit Hotel along Pasay Road. I was eating with our security officer, Greg Honasan, I think he was already a colonel or major then.
From the radio, I heard my sister Katrina was in Antipolo with Alfie, that they were on the way back home. When Katrina reached Bel-Air, we proceeded to eat. Suddenly, there were squelches on the radio, then there was a discussion, then Greg looked a little concerned and he wanted to go. I said to him: Sama ako (I want to go with you).Ó
So you went to the house of the actor?
When I and Greg Honasan arrived at the house, the door was open and there was a light on. When I was close to the door, I started to hear my sister Katrina crying. I went to go to the second floor, then I went into the room. I recoiled when I saw a gun on the floor, then I saw Alfie Anido on the bed reclining. Namamaga na siya (He was already swollen).
Alfie Anido and your sister had a fight before his death?
I think Katrina at that point wanted to break it off with him. They had a loversÕ quarrel.
I researched that the actor was only a year younger than you and also went to Ateneo. Did you personally know him?
Yeah, we were close. He was younger than me at Ateneo. He was always a good-looking kid, very affable, very nice. We always used to talk in the AteneoÕs pergola Ñ the open-air canteen. The false rumor on my alleged role in his death is again one of the pitfalls of life in politics.
Another part of your fatherÕs book that is most controversial and even contradicted by the bookÕs publisher Oscar Lopez was the ambush on your fatherÕs car in Wack Wack subdivision in Mandaluyong, which President Marcos used to justify declaring martial law in 1972. Critics say your father faked his ambush. Do you remember that day?
I was 14 years old then, in first year high school. I was coming home from Ateneo. I came home to our house then in Sto. Domingo Street, Urdaneta Village, Makati. That was about 4 p.m. I was going to ride my motorcycle at Fort Bonifacio, but they didnÕt allow me. My mother just hugged me. I remember my father was very stoic. They didnÕt want us to know. My father just said: ÒSomething happened.Ó I later learned from the news about the ambush.
Did all this talk about ambush and martial law, etc., make you worry or fear?
Due to our always having bodyguards and always seeing guns, we grew up with the idea that life is precarious. Once as a kid, I was leaving our house at 5:30 a.m. in order to beat the traffic on the then still two-lane Edsa. I was only 10 or 11 years old, and I saw four coffins outside our house that morning. My father was then Customs Commissioner. I remember at first thinking that it’s not yet Halloween.
You didnÕt study law like your dad and grandfather?
I wanted to be a businessman. My idol then was Tito Danding Cojuangco. Admittedly I didnÕt take my academic studies seriously like my father did, but I wanted to go into business where you really need gumption and audacity more. My father before always worried I didnÕt have a fallback position.
You I took studied up an English honors in in college, English. who My are favorite your writers favorite that literary I read writers? were Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), James Joyce, especially his novel Ulysses, Joseph Conrad. I admire the British poets John Milton, John Bunyan of PilgrimÕs Progress, I also like the poets John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley.
YouÕve read all that?
I chronicled it. In four semesters and a summer, I read 11,000 pages of literature, not that I retained much of it though. (Laughs)
Was it true your father and Imelda were rivals to be potential successors to Marcos?
Maybe. According to my father it was a deep rivalry. I think the First Lady at one point harbored thoughts of becoming president, and she had a circle of friends egging her on.
Was it true you had once disagreed with your father on your huge real estate projects before the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and that you once lost your JAKA property along Ayala Avenue to the bank?
I remember in 1996 real estate was at its peak. On our JAKA building project in Ayala Avenue, there was a real estate bubble based on projections, because the yields were not there of supposedly P1,000 per square meter in rental, with too many realty projects being developed. I had a private conversation with my father, a big real estate businessman wanted to buy the Elizalde Building for P600,000 per square meter.
ThatÕs the site of the JAKA project, formerly called Elizalde Building? How did you buy that?
It was Mar Roxas who brokered the sale of the eight-story Elizalde Building to my father in the early 1990s or late 1980s. If my memory serves me right, my father bought it for P78 million or P74 million. It is 1,200 square meters in lot area.
Why did you disagree with your father and want to sell it?
I told my father that if we sold it, we did not have to borrow. I told him we could not afford to simultaneously develop two big realty projects, this building inAyalaAvenue and Splendido in Tagaytay, and I think Splendido would give us better returns, but he disagreed with me and his decision was followed.
You lost the Ayala Avenue property in the Asian crisis. To whom?
We did a dacion en pago, or used the property to pay off our loans, I think it was with RCBC in 1998 or 1999. In 2006, we paid off our obligations and bought it back.
So in that real estate project, you were proven right in your judgment? Did your father tell you that you were correct all along?
He probably wouldnÕt openly admit that.
President Noynoy is almost your age. Did you meet at the Ateneo?
We were acquaintances, but on different sides in politics. In fairness to the President, he didnÕt show me, or did nothing against me, I can only speak for myselfÉ I remember Noynoy in Ateneo as quiet and friendly, always bookish.
People think heÕs smart but not the bookish or studious type?
Noynoy was always reading in the corridors or classrooms. HeÕs very intelligent, but heÕs not mayabang (boastful) about his brains.
High Mar Mar School, Roxas was a too? is couple almost of your years age ahead group. of me. Did I you know meet him, him in at fact, Ateneo heÕs the good So ninong friend? the leader (godfather) of the Liberal of my Party, only son the rival in the of year your 2000. UNA party, is your
Yes, What I am I close consider about to Vice his Mar daughter President as a good Nancy Jojo friend. Binay? Binay, He is Are a I very was you just busy close with man to him, her now. a too? couple of young days lawyer ago in Cagayan. in 1974. I I was knew then the 16 Vice when President I was courting when he a was friend still of a my then sister Atty. Katrina Binay walking in San Antonio with a briefcase. Village in I think Makati, he and then I became used to the see youngest Your Though father Cabinet my seems father official to and be close of Binay Cory to Binay? before Aquino, were he in was different in his 30s. sides of the political The Vice fence, PresidentÕs now theyÕre middle very name close. is Cabauatan, They speak her the motherÕs Ibanag Ibanag. dialect. They more both fluent speak Ibanag fluent than Ibanag. my father. I think You the will Vice not President see a more speaks down-to- even earth I heard politician people than say Vice Mar President Roxas lacks Binay, the he down-to-earth calls everyone ÒPare.Ó style of Binay. Not Is with this me, true? baka mahiyain lang si Mar (maybe Mar is just shy or too Critics modest). complain of your fatherÕs politics and the purportedly slanted You might version not of necessarily history in agree his memoirs? with his positions, but he believes in them, Your father so he has could been sleep accused soundly of plotting at night. military coups versus then President You have Cory to ask Aquino. him that. Are There these rumors has been true? no proof to substantiate those accusations. father did, he There had his have reasons been rumorsÉ for doing so. Whether true or not, whatever my
history, Some so critics he has say distorted your dad certain has outlived facts and many allegedly protagonists created fiction? of modern
I Your guess greatest he brings fears? his own perspective, thatÕs why itÕs his memoirs.
I Are have you an religious? extreme fear of heights, and I fear going to hell.
had I believe a personal in the relationship God of the with Bible. the I Lord was raised in 1994, a Catholic, and I discovered but IÕve that the Lord loves me, that IÕm forgiven *** and that by grace I am saved. LeeFlores Thanks at for Twitter.com, your feedback! like at E-mail Facebook, willsoonflourish@gmail.com go to willsoonflourish.blogspot.com. or follow Wilson-