MANILA, Philippines - The first cousin of President Aquino was found dead inside his room in Barangay Central, Tarlac City on Wednesday.
The Chief Executive dropped by the Loyola Memorial Chapels at Guadalupe in Makati City where Jose Rafael Teopaco’s remains lie in state.
National Bureau of Investigation medico-legal doctors earlier conducted an autopsy on Teopaco, 48, who according to sources died of massive remote and recent myocardial infarction, or heart attack.
The maternal uncle of President Aquino, Pedro Cojuangco, also died of cardio-respiratory arrest, secondary to multiple organ failure at the Makati Medical Center in July 2011.
Cojuangco, 83, was the eldest brother of the President’s mother, the late former President Corazon Aquino. He served as chairman and president of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac, which operated the sugar mill and refining as well as the distilling and carbon dioxide plants in Tarlac City.