In 2013, he fielded his son, Jack, along with the tradition of dynastic bragging rights: having a descendant or sibling serving in tandem in the senate. He lost. In 2016, he ran again to reclaim his senate seat. He lost. Year 2022 was daughter Katrina’s turn to repossess her father’s erstwhile seat in Congress. She lost.

The Cagayanos and the Mamba dynasty resoundingly rejected the favorite son of Gonzaga, Cagayan.

In May, 2022 the son of his patron (whom he deposed in the EDSA revolt), was elected president.

At 98 he is now the consigliere of the reemergent Marcos Family.

Come February, 2024 he will turn 100 years old. By any measure, JPE is a legend.

In 1966, he first served in government as Secretary of Finance.

As Chief Legal Counsel, he did not flag the order of the Sugar Regulatory Commission to import 300k metric tons of sugar. What he did was to chastise one presumptuous GMA minion, Mike Defensor, beside the MMDA Chair by invoking the one-year disqualification of a losing candidate to seek appointment in the current government.

By all indications the legendary Filipino Methuselah was appointed by the president as an expression of nostalgia if not as his court jester.

Has JPE brushed up on the latest legal developments or political re-alignments upon his patron’s ascension to office? Is he expecting the visits of arriviste dynasties as new political powerhouse in their regions kowtowing before him or his patron? Is he poised to unsheathe the JPE dagger against his ex-allies in Cagayan who masterminded the downfall of his family?

His testosterone appears to be spiking whilst he reviews the classic legal opinions of his predecessors.

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Image credit: https://www.reportr.world/news/juan-ponce-enrile-age-biography-profile-a4736-20220617