The children of the late former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile have publicly expressed disappointment over Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano’s recent statements describing a close, almost familial bond with their father — saying his words rang hollow against the reality of who actually showed up during their family’s grief.
In a statement released through daughter Katrina Ponce Enrile, the family acknowledged that the Cayetano and Enrile clans had shared decades of acquaintance, but drew a firm line between long familiarity and genuine closeness.
“During the necrological services held in the Senate and throughout the difficult days surrounding our father’s passing, our family could not help but notice who chose to be present — and who did not,” the statement read.
Cayetano, who was elected Senate president on May 11 following the ouster of Senator Tito Sotto amid the ongoing Sara Duterte impeachment proceedings, had reportedly said he addresses only two non-relatives as “Uncle” — one of them being Enrile, whom he said he grew up alongside. The remarks were made publicly after Enrile’s death in November 2025 at the age of 101.
The family said that actual relationships are not validated by public declarations, but by presence, sincerity, and quiet gestures of support in moments of loss.
“Our father’s legacy, sacrifices, and decades of service to the nation should never be revisited only when convenient, politically useful, or publicly advantageous,” the statement said. “He deserved sincerity in life, dignity in death, and peace in memory.”
Records of the Senate necrological service held on November 19, 2025, show that those who attended included then-Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Senators Jinggoy Estrada, JV Ejercito, Robinhood Padilla, and Erwin Tulfo. Cayetano, who was then serving as Senate minority floor leader, was not among those reported present.
The family said it continues to observe “grace and restraint” — values it attributed to Enrile himself throughout his public life — and called on those who invoke his name to do so with honesty and consistency.
“We pray that all who invoke his name do so with honesty, consistency, and genuine respect,” the statement concluded.
