1. Danding Cojuangco was the chairman and CEO of San Miguel Corporation, the largest food and beverage corporation in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
19 Facts About Danding Cojuangco
1. 2.
Danding Cojuangco served as a Philippine ambassador and governor of Tarlac.
3.
Danding Cojuangco completed his high school education at De La Salle College.
4.
Danding Cojuangco attended UP Los Banos and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
5.
Danding Cojuangco was called "one of the country's leading businessmen".
6.
Danding Cojuangco was accused of being the mastermind behind Benigno Aquino Jr.
7.
Danding Cojuangco was implicated in the Coco Levy Fund controversy, a decades-long dispute over funds acquired by the Philippine Government when the Marcos administration levied a tax on copra sold by the Philippines' coconut farmers from 1973 to 1982.
8.
The stated intent of the plan, spearheaded by Danding Cojuangco, was to develop the Philippine coconut industry.
9.
When Ferdinand Marcos was ousted by the People Power revolution in February 1986, Danding Cojuangco was flown out of the country and into exile along with the Marcos family and Fabian Ver, departing in the early morning of February 25,1986.
10.
Danding Cojuangco was allowed to return in 1989, having spent most of his exile breeding and racing horses in Australia.
11.
In 1992, Danding Cojuangco founded the Nationalist People's Coalition to serve as his vehicle to further his aspirations in the 1992 presidential elections.
12.
Danding Cojuangco was a candidate for the Philippine presidency in 1992, ultimately losing in a tight election to Fidel V Ramos.
13.
Danding Cojuangco further tested the political waters in 2003, intending to run in the 2004 presidential election, but soon withdrew.
14.
Danding Cojuangco eventually became chairman emeritus of the NPC, wielding influence that earned him a reputation as a "kingmaker" in Philippine politics.
15.
Danding Cojuangco advocated sports in the country, notably basketball, having supported it since the 1980s as a basketball godfather with his Northern Consolidated team.
16.
Danding Cojuangco was a key benefactor of the De La Salle Green Archers men's basketball team.
17.
Danding Cojuangco served as the founding chairman of the horse racing body Philippine Racing Commission from 1975 to 1978.
18.
Danding Cojuangco's mother, the daughter of an Irish-Canadian US Army volunteer who married a Filipina woman, was born and raised in Baguio.
19.
Danding Cojuangco was married to Soledad "Gretchen" Oppen of Negros Occidental.