MANILA — Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile turned 99 years old on Tuesday and thanked God for giving him those years.

"Happy Valentine's day to all of you. I love you all. 99 years are, indeed, long in term of years, and I thank God for granting me those years," he wrote on Facebook.

"But in terms of eternity, those seemingly long years are but a fleeting moment," added the official who, in 1986, helped topple the dictatorship of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr., father and namesake of the incumbent Philippine leader.

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Enrile also thanked God for protection and the blessings he and his family received.

"Thank you Lord for the years you gifted me; for the protection you blessed me; and for all the blessings you have generously given to me and to my family; and the friends you, Lord, allowed me to have during my lifetime. Thank you dear God for this day!" he said.

The former Defense secretary and Senate president is currently facing plunder and graft charges at the Sandiganbayan in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

Among those who greeted Enrile on his birthday was former Sen. Ping Lacson.

"When you are 99 and celebrating Valentine’s Day with an evening party, then you must really be JPE. Happy birthday sir!," Lacson said on Twitter.

Enrile is also known as the architect and implementer of martial law, a period that saw thousands of human rights abuses against activists and critics of the Marcos Sr. administration.

In February 1986, he was among those who led a military mutiny that resulted in the EDSA People Power revolution, ousting Marcos Sr. and installing Corazon Aquino into the presidency.

Enrile then served as Aquino's defense chief. But she fired him in November 1986 after a failed coup by his followers, his involvement in which he denied.

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