Many know that the defection of former senator Juan Ponce Enrile led to the ouster of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in February 1986 and yet many wonder why the latter’s namesake, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., harbored no ill feelings and made Enrile presidential legal adviser.
“He is like my uncle. I call him Tito Johnny and I’ve called him that since I was a child,” Marcos told TV host-vlogger Toni Gonzaga in an interview aired during his 65th birthday on AllTV channel.
He added that they’ve talked repeatedly since those fateful days of February 1986 when his whole family was forced to leave the country for Hawaii.
“So, that is not a problem. Ang daming nangyari na (A lot of things happened already) since 86,” Marcos told Gonzaga, dismissing issues that continue to hound Enrile’s role in the bloodless People Power Revolt.
He revealed that he was at his father’s side when he was talking to his then Defense chief since he was holding the telephone for him.
“He has explained it so we talked about so often. For me, it didn’t seem to be an attack on my father,” Marcos said.
READ: Enrile returns to gov’t as Marcos’ chief legal counsel
“I think he felt that was really defending the country in some way,” he furthered.
In fact, the Chief Executive believed Enrile would have made a good president compared to many others.
The former Senate president’s famed brilliance is the reason Marcos appointed him to a post.
“Whatever it is we have discussed it sufficiently that we are happy to be with one another and happy to work with one another,” he said.
“He is brilliant. He is one of the three best lawyers that I know in the Philippines,” Marcos asserted.
There is no reason for Enrile to betray him since the President believed that “the times are just too different” in the past.
At 98 years old, Marcos knows that all Enrile wants is to “keep working.”
He called it a “natural progression” that he is back in Malacañang again because “siya ang pinakamagaling (he is the best).”