Alfie Anido mystery death, according to Enrile

Rumors linking Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s son Jack to the death of movie actor Alfie Anido in 1981 was the handiwork of the late Fabian Ver and were apparently devised to get even with Enrile, who was then pressing an investigation of Ver’s role in several attempts to kill a rival over a woman.

“To create the impression in the mind of the public that Jack had something to do with the death of … Anido, General Ver unleashed his attack dogs to fish for evidence against Jack,” Enrile writes in his newly released memoir.

“Naturally they found nothing because the rumor that Jack killed Alfie was a pure fabrication,” he says.

Rumors that Anido’s death in December 1981 was a murder and not a suicide spread like wildfire, and continues to be discussed on social networking sites because of lack of closure.

Jack allegedly shot Anido at close range after the actor broke up with Jack’s sister Katrina. There was speculation that Enrile used his position—he was defense minister at the time—to gag investigators and exonerate his son.

Enrile’s discussion of Anido’s death in Chapter 11, titled “Plots and Counterplots,” of his 772-page autobiography “Juan Ponce Enrile: A Memoir” is apparently his first in public.

Enrile says Anido was the boyfriend of his daughter Katrina. Dec. 30, 1981 was Anido’s birthday and he invited Katrina to watch a basketball game that morning.

Lovers’ spat

In the afternoon, the couple went to a rented house in Antipolo to celebrate with friends. But before the guests arrived, Anido allegedly drank heavily and fell asleep. Katrina tried to wake him up when the guests arrived. Anido eventually woke and saw Katrina talking to some of them.

“(Anido) screamed at Katrina.  For whatever reason, Alfie evidently did not like seeing Katrina talking to some of his guests.  Katrina gathered her things and wanted to leave,” Enrile says.

Katrina asked two friends to join her in Anido’s car. The couple had an argument.

“Alfie physically hit Katrina, and my daughter fought back,” Enrile says.

Katrina eventually went to her car to drive back to Manila, but Anido cut her path.  Katrina got off her car and joined Anido in his car “to avoid a scene,” her father says.

Arriving in one piece

Enrile says Anido drove “at breakneck speed” and reached Makati in 30 minutes. Katrina thanked him for driving her home to Dasmariñas Village “in one piece” but he allegedly “cussed her out and left for his parents’ house” in nearby Bel-Air Subdivision.

On reaching home, Anido called Katrina. They argued and he banged down the phone when Katrina told him she wanted to end their relationship.

Katrina rang back and the argument continued. The actor insisted that they return to Antipolo.  Failing to convince her, he banged down the phone again.

After a few minutes, Katrina made a second call. Anido’s mother eventually picked up.  Mrs. Anido called her son.

Anido’s suicide

“After a while, the sister of Alfie was on the phone and told Katrina, ‘Kuya shot himself,’” Enrile writes.

Katrina rushed to Bel-Air and was met by Anido’s father. He handed her a suicide note, which the National Bureau of Investigation eventually took.

“Katrina wanted a copy but she did not succeed in getting one,” Enrile says.

Katrina went to Loyola Memorial Funeral Parlor the following morning and then proceeded to Bel-Air.

Mr. Anido asked Katrina “why there were two sets of investigators—one from the [NBI] and [another] from Malacañang.”

Enrile says it was at this point that he believed Ver let loose his operators to gather evidence to pin down his son, Jack, now a representative of Cagayan province in Congress and a senatorial candidate of the United Nationalist Alliance in next year’s midterm elections.

Trying to kill a rival

Earlier in Chapter 11, Enrile admits that he and Ver had a “strained relation” that was aggravated when he ordered an investigation into the death and at least one previous attempt to kill one Alfonso “Boy” Tuzon.

Enrile recalls that Tuzon was shot on the left side of his face while walking toward the parking lot of a Makati hotel after the local elections, held in January 1980.

Tuzon survived the attack, but was placed under “heavy and tight security” at the Makati Medical Center during his recuperation.

Enrile says Ver was “the suspected mastermind of the violent attack,” as he and Tuzon were rivals for “the attention and affection of a young and pretty lady banker.”

“Because of [Ver’s] position in the Marcos regime and close connection to President Marcos, no one dared to investigate General Ver.  I had to intervene.  I ordered the investigation of … Ver,” Enrile writes.

When he recovered, Tuzon went to a cockfight derby in Nueva Ecija. He was ambushed on his way home, but survived despite the use of “submachine guns and grenades” by the attackers.

Tuzon escapes

The next day, Enrile says, Tuzon’s parents, who were his supporters in Cagayan province, went to Camp Aguinaldo and asked for help so that their son could leave the country.

Enrile says he ordered his intelligence officer, Col. Thelmo Cunanan, to “handle the problem.”

Under an assumed name and using a private plane, Tuzon first flew to Sabah with Cunanan and from there proceeded to the United States.

Enrile says the investigation of Ver eventually fizzled out, as witnesses were afraid to come forward, only saying Tuzon’s attackers in the Makati hotel parking lot wore masks.

Ver’s wrath

Enrile says he drew Ver’s wrath for that investigation.  The general ordered the National Intelligence Service Agency to place Enrile under surveillance and “to develop a case” against the defense minister.

The man assigned to build a case against Enrile was Col. Igor Cepeda, whom Enrile describes as “a fanatical supporter of General Ver.”

Ver and company apparently found Anido’s suicide an opportunity to pin down Enrile’s son.

No crime at all

“No doubt, the only purpose of those who spread that false rumor was to besmirch my family and destroy my reputation rather than solve a crime for there was no crime at all,” Enrile says.

“That was how vicious my foes were,” he writes.  “But I made sure that they would not succeed in their dirty scheme.  I gathered the facts to their utter embarrassment.  Still, my foes would not stop.”