'The Man Who Refused to Fade Away'

That line "The man who refused to fade away" wasn't coined by me but by writer Franchesca Tuazon, a member of the Gen Z demographic, when she was writing the obit for former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. He passed away last Nov. 13 at the age of 101.

- JOANNE RAE M. RAMIREZ

When I asked Franchesca why she thought of the line, which encapsulated the life of JPE, she said: "I think it's mostly because I grew up seeing JPE always there, whether in the news, politics, or even memes in social media. So even if people expected him to retire or disappear from the public eye, he still stayed relevant and chose to be a part of national and political events. That's why I used that line."

His life was a saga, of cinematic proportions. On Feb. 14, 1924, JPE was born out of wedlock to a fisherman's daughter named Petra Furagganan and Alfonso Ponce Enrile, a young, powerful politician. He was teased a bastardo as a child.

In an interview with Kap Maceda Aguila for People Asia magazine in 2010, JPE recounted he had a tough childhood.

"Our house was a one-room affair. My mother, stepfather, half-sisters and half-brothers were all sleeping on the floor. Our house was on stilts, and it had a silong." At the time, he had not yet met his father.

"During the cold monsoon season, we would dig a hole underneath the house, put firewood, and make a fire underneath. We could buy farmland and hire labor for a fee to plant and harvest rice but basically our occupation was fishing. I was quite adept at fishing in the river and open sea," he continued.