BUSINESSMAN Eduardo ‘Danding’ Murphy Cojuangco Jr., succumbed to lingering illness on Tuesday night, JUne 16, 2020. He just turned 85 last June 10.
A report by the Manila Bulletin today, June 17, 2020, stated that Cojuangco was being treated at the St. Luke’s Medical Center when he succumbed to pneumonia and heart failure before 11pm, Tuesday night, June 16, 2020.
As Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Cojuangco used his political and business savvy to turn San Miguel Corporation (SMC) into one of the country’s most successful, well-known and biggest business conglomerate with very diverse interests and operations covering Southeast Asia.
As a politician, he was governor of Tarlac province (1967 -1969) and congressman (1969 -1972); he was said to be the most “trusted” by Pres. Ferdinand Marcos among the Cojuangco clan before, during, and after his downfall, in 1986.
In the presidential election year of 1992, Cojuangco founded the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) as a vehicle for his presidential ambition but was beaten by Pres. Fidel V. Ramos. The NPC remains a political force today in the country’s political arena.
As a ‘King Maker,’ he supported the presidency of Pres. Joseph Estrada in 1998 and was the first among the country’s business tycoons to support the failed candidacy of Fernando Poe Jr., in 2004.
The only blot and mystery in his life that remained unclear was the accusation by some quarters that he was behind the assassination of his cousin-in-law, former Sen. Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino Jr.
Aquino was assassinated at the tarmac of the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983.
That incident turned into a political crisis for Marcos and the resulting power struggle in the country backed by a faction in the US government and the communists resulted to his illegal removal in February 1986.
Marcos was succeeded by Cojuangco’s first cousin, Corazon, widow to Ninoy.