He was born out of wedlock, as his father, the Spanish mestizo lawyer and influential provincial politician Alfonso Ponce Enrile, was already married.

[10] As a young man, he was reunited with his father in the City of Manila and took his secondary education at Saint James Academy in Malabon, Rizal.

At the end of January of the following year, Enrile, with help from Efren Plana and Minerva Gonzaga Reyes, submitted the only copy of the report regarding the detailed nature and extent of Martial Law to Marcos.

"[4] The doubts surrounding the alleged ambush were further confirmed in a press conference on February 23, 1986, when then Lieutenant General Fidel Ramos and Enrile admitted that the attack was staged to justify the declaration of martial law.

In the said book, Enrile accuses his political opponents of spreading rumors of the ambush being staged despite having already admitted several times that the attempted assassination was indeed fake.

The abolition of civilian institutions such as Congress, the weakening of the judiciary, and the outlawing of political parties, left the military as the only other instrumentality of the national government outside of the Presidency.

Enrile also owned numerous logging companies such as Ameco in Bukidnon, Dolores Timber in Samar, San Jose Timber in Northern Samar, Kasilagan Softwood Development Corp in Butuan, Eurasia Match in Cebu, Pan Oriental which operates in Cebu and Butuan, Palawan-Apitong Corp in Palawan, and Royal Match.

[5] Enrile was also appointed by Marcos as the President of the Philippine Coconut Authority, where he established control of the copra industry together with Danding Cojuangco.

He began aligning himself with dissident elements in the army, particularly the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) - which was then headed by his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel Gregorio Honasan.

Despite widespread allegations of fraud, which included a protest walkout by-election tabulators, Marcos was proclaimed the winner against his opponent Corazon Aquino on February 15.

[23] Enrile and the RAM decided to launch the coup against Marcos in February 1986 in order to take advantage of the political instability in the wake of the controversial election.

[23][24][25] However, this RAM coup d'état failed when it was discovered by Ver in the early morning hours of February 22, 1986 - a day before it was supposed to be implemented.

[28] With the plot already uncovered by Marcos, Enrile decided to encamp at Aguinaldo in Quezon City, across the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue from Ramos' headquarters in Camp Crame.

[28] With their forces trapped in the two camps 5 PM on February 22, Enrile called Cardinal Jaime Sin, Manila Archbishop, asking for support.

The incident was resolved without violence and without much impact to the broader public, and the Aquino administration pursued a policy of maximum leniency towards the instigators.

[39] After revealing the fruits of the investigation findings, Aquino forced Enrile to resign as Defense Secretary in November 1986 as she had lost confidence in him.

In later years, Enrile continued alleging that the Aquino government manipulated the vote count during the 1987 elections, which he called "Cory Magic".

[41] In the same month Enrile assumed office as senator, an attempted coup against Aquino escalated and led to the destruction of the Armed Forces General Headquarters (AFPGHQ) in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

Enrile later stated numerous recalls about the martial law era, of which all were flip-flops from his previous statements during his term as secretary of defense and during the ouster of Marcos.

[citation needed] In the 2004 election, he made a comeback bid for the Senate under the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) banner.

Due to his exposé of the PPA and the Supreme Court decision in favor of a refund on electric bills, the public responded positively and elected him.

Enrile was affiliated with the opposition Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) but officially stood as an independent and was part of the administration bloc.

[citation needed] On November 17, 2008, Senate President Manuel Villar resigned due to a lack of support, and Enrile succeeded him the same day.

Furthermore, in his acceptance speech, he enjoined his colleagues to "uphold the independence and integrity of this Senate, without abandoning our duty to cooperate with the other departments of the government to achieve what is good for our people.

He played a role in forcing the resignation of Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez on September 17 by rejecting the latter's appointing of himself as Presidential Chief of Staff with extensive powers.

Twenty billion pesos worth of Priority Development Fund was illegally channeled through various bogus NGOs of Janet Lim-Napoles most of it being used by the Senator.

[55] Enrile, along with fellow senators Bong Revilla, and Jinggoy Estrada, were indicted for plunder and for the violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act before the Sandiganbayan on June 6, 2014, in connection to the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.

[59][60] The Supreme Court of the Philippines en banc in its decision dated February 24, 2024, denied Enrile's petition to dismiss and directed the Sandiganbayan to proceed with the trial of the P172-million plunder case on the alleged pork barrel scam.

[66] As a result of the widely publicized backlash against Sigma Rho, Enrile labeled his fraternity brothers "Trainor of thugs and killers" and urged his "broads" to surrender those who were responsible for the death of Cris Mendez.

[72] He was also portrayed by Bugoy Cariño and Enrique Gil in a two-part special on the television drama anthology series Maalaala Mo Kaya, featuring his life story.