MANILA, Philippines - Last Thursday, I visited our good friend Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. whom I have not seen since late last year, especially after he went to San Francisco for an “ablation” to treat an irregular heartbeat.
The medical procedure turned out very well, but the antibiotics had a negative effect because it caused stomach irritation, giving rise to all sorts of speculations after he was confined at St. Luke’s to treat the pain and change his medication. Text messages even circulated that Danding was in very bad shape and nearing death. But as Mark Twain had said, the rumors about his death have been greatly exaggerated. Danding’s condition was really more of a complication brought about by antibiotics prescribed by his doctors in the US.
The former ambassador - who is also referred to as ECJ - continues to be involved in San Miguel as its chairman but his schedule is no longer as tight as before, limited now to once a week visits to his office. ECJ had spent most of his time in his wife Gretchen’s province of Negros Occidental, but after the medical procedure, he has been spending more time in Tarlac, since he didn’t realize it had been 30 years since he really visited the place where it all started for the Cojuangco family.
Not many are aware of the important role that Tarlac played in history, like this small chapel in Barangay San Francisco in the town of Paniqui that became the meeting place of Filipino priests who signed the Constituciones Provisionales de la Iglesia Filipina that wanted the Vatican to allow native priests to have their own parishes. Local historians of Tarlac say the Aglipayan Church was in fact founded in Tarlac and not Ilocos Norte, citing the said meeting presided over by Fr. Gregorio Aglipay, who was Emilio Aguinaldo’s military vicar during that time. It seems Danding is now into restoring things with historical significance because he’s looking for old photos of the chapel, which he plans to restore. As a matter of fact, he put up a church in Tarlac perhaps as an indication that he really plans to spend the remaining years of his life in the place of his childhood.
Not many are also aware that his Eduardo Cojuangco Foundation has been providing technical and vocational scholarship programs for the less fortunate youth all over the country. Many of these scholars have become successful professionals, like this young man who is now the president of a Tesda-accredited school of welding technology that is helping send many Filipinos abroad for work.
ECJ is also putting up a lot of projects to provide jobs for his fellow Tarlaqueños, as well as help farmers since Tarlac has been declared as one of the areas highly vulnerable to El Niño. He is planning to develop one million hectares of farmlands all over the country. As far as he’s concerned, as long as the project breaks even and he is able to provide jobs to farmers, he will be happy. All he wants is to give back to the soil where his wealth started, having made his first million through farming.
People who know him are not surprised at his interest in farming and agriculture, knowing that it is really Danding’s first love, having studied Agriculture at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños and later on at the California State College in San Luis Obispo. Danding had always believed that developing the agriculture sector is crucial in maintaining the food security of the country, a belief shared by his late friend Enrique “EZ” Zobel (who had also studied Agriculture at the University of California in Los Angeles). It was this common love for the soil, among many other things, which made gentlemen-farmers EZ and Danding such good friends, paving the way for Danding’s entry into, and eventual acquisition of, San Miguel Corp. And contrary to many allegations of cronyism, it was the late Andres Soriano Sr. together with EZ who offered to sell the Ayala Group’s huge SMC shareholdings to Danding.
I met ECJ when I was a news reporter at RPN Channel 9 during the early ‘70s, and I eventually got to know him more during his exile in Los Angeles where I visited several times. I’ve come to admire him even more especially after he came back to Manila where it became apparent that he was really an entrepreneur by heart. I even kidded him that perhaps politics was not in his blood and he was really born to be a farmer-businessman. Danding has turned full circle after being vilified as a Marcos crony during the early years of the EDSA People Power Revolution.
If there’s anyone I know who has gone through so much, it is Danding Cojuangco whose father died when he was a teenager. He worked as a gasoline boy to earn pocket money and he had to help his mother keep their family’s struggling lumber business. He definitely knows what hard work means, which is part of the reason why he has been successful in growing his businesses. Together with SMC president Ramon Ang, San Miguel has become one of the biggest conglomerates with diversified interests in banking, oil, power, telecommunications, infrastructure and other sectors.
While he is no longer actively involved in the affairs of the Nationalist People’s Coalition which he founded and has turned over the reins to his son Mark and the younger members of the party, as chairman emeritus politicians still approach him for advice. People still consider him a king maker, but he humbly says he is no longer one, especially now with his nephews Gilbert Cojuangco Teodoro and Noynoy Cojuangco Aquino both running for president. Danding admits feeling disappointed with Gilbert who decided to leave the NPC without giving any formal or official notice to him and the party. Everyone knows the two have had a falling out which is just too bad, but for ECJ, life simply goes on.
As for his other nephew, Danding says Noynoy is a good person and can become president, although the race for the presidency will be a tight one between Manny Villar and Noynoy. The NPC though is noncommittal about any presidential candidate and as far as he is concerned, the only one supported by the NPC is Loren Legarda, Villar’s running mate.
Nowadays, Danding intends to spend more time with his grandchildren. I am told that his son Charlie’s daughter, Claudia, is the only one who is allowed to go inside her grandpa’s room and wake him up. ECJ’s hemoglobin count is a little low but he is taking medication to bring it back to normal. His focus now is in giving back to his province mates as he spends more time in Tarlac, nursing back his health so he can continue to share his wealth.