Partial and official election returns from Barangays Asturias, Balete, Cut-cut 2nd, Bantog, Lourdes, Central, Mapalacsiao, Buenavista and Capehan, all inside the Cojuangco-owned sugar estate, showed that actor and opposition standard bearer Fernando Poe Jr. had 4,414 votes as of 1 p.m. yesterday, against Mrs. Arroyo’s 2,195 votes.
This, even as former Tarlac Rep. Jose "Peping" Cojuangco Jr., Mrs. Aquino’s younger brother, and his wife, former Tarlac governor Margarita "Tingting" Cojuangco, serve in the Arroyo administration.
Peping is Mrs. Arroyo’s presidential adviser on food security and jobs creation, while Tingting, who was presidential adviser on special concerns, was appointed undersecretary for special concerns of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) by the President before the March 10 ban on political appointments.
Peping’s political party, the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), actively campaigned in the province for Mrs. Arroyo’s bid for a fresh six-year mandate.
Kampi was formed in 1998 for then Sen. Arroyo’s aborted bid for the presidency.
Besides, the President’s campaign also got help from Mrs. Aquino’s only son, re-electionist Tarlac second district Rep. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, secretary-general of the Liberal Party, an ally of the Lakas-CMD (Christian-Muslim Democrats) in the administration’s K-4 coalition.
Local observers said the wide lead Poe, standard-bearer of the opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP), was getting in Hacienda Luisita barangays, would likely deal an immense blow on the political hold of the Cojuangcos in their own turf.
The Cojuangcos figured in the EDSA 1 and EDSA 2 uprisings that toppled the Marcos and Estrada administrations, respectively.
Mrs. Aquino took over Malacañang after the EDSA 1 revolt in 1986, while then Vice President Arroyo assumed the presidency after the fall of jailed former President Joseph Estrada in the aftermath of the EDSA 2 uprising in 2001.