It’s interesting to see how Katrina Ponce Enrile, daughter of the late Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE), describes herself on Instagram (@ponceenrile): “Public by responsibility. Private by conviction.” She is, one might deduce, much like her father.

Her 31 December post sums up the past year, following the death of her famous/infamous father at age 103. She says, “I cannot say that 2025 has been a good year. But it has been a necessary one. It has given me life-altering lessons — hard, humbling and profound — which now fully embrace. And because of them, I step beyond this year lighter than I entered it.

“I release what no longer served me in good stead. I let go without bitterness, and I offer peace and forgiveness – not as an obligation, but as an act of freedom. As I welcome 2026, I do so unburdened in spirit, anchored in truth, and strengthened by what I survived. I walk forward with courage and quiet resolve, ready at last to live the life I have always known was meant for me.”

Many will remember how, in early November, Katrina and her family lost the man that had been many times instrumental in the life of this nation. He was, to the last day, a big presence, and one can almost imagine what the spaces he occupied feel now.

When the day came, Katrina admits it was still a shock. “We never thought my dad was gonna…of course, we knew someday he was going to pass, but this was so unexpected because he was getting better already. And all of a sudden, boom, it just happened.”

For the first few weeks, Katrina moved with purpose. “They were very hectic. We really didn’t have much time to even feel the grief because I was tasked to do the responses — you know, the responses in the Senate, in Congress, in Malacañang, the Department of Defense, even in church… You have to hold your emotions when you’re doing that,” she tells DAILY TRIBUNE Life.

“It was very surreal for me because when you’ve lived with a presence like my father’s for such a long time — and I had him 10 steps from my house, and every day we’re talking, arguing, he’s always making bilin, always doing that, or just chitchatting about whatever. And after that he’s no longer next to me…,” she recalls.