Business, political and sports boss Danding Cojuangco, 85

MANILA, Philippines — Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., one of the country’s richest businessmen touted as a folk hero in his hometown of Tarlac and a politically savvy tycoon, died of a heart attack Tuesday night at the age of 85.

Cojuangco’s death marked the end of an era in San Miguel Corp. (SMC), the beer empire that he grew to dizzying heights.

His son Mark Cojuangco once described him as a genius businessman gifted with the Midas touch.

“Like the legendary Greek king, everything that Danding touched has turned to gold,” Mark once told The STAR.

His remains were cremated immediately in accordance with his wish not to have any public viewing.

Cojuangco, born in Paniqui, Tarlac, took control of San Miguel in 1983, years after the death of industrialist Andres Soriano, who was credited for growing the Spanish-era brewery that started as La Fábrica de Cerveza San Miguel on Sept. 29, 1890, feast day of Saint Michael the Archangel.

Cojuangco led San Miguel through turbulent times, particularly in 1983 after one of the firm’s owners, Enrique Zobel, sold his 19.5 percent stake to the close political adviser of then president Ferdinand Marcos, who had treated him like a son.

He was one of Marcos’ so-called Omega 12, a group of civilians and military men trusted by the late dictator and whom he gifted with personally inscribed Omega watches.

Through the years and under Cojuangco’s leadership, San Miguel dominated the Philippine beer market, accounting for nine out of ten beer brands in the Philippines, but Danding’s reign ended along with the overthrow of the Marcos administration in 1986.

He took the same plane with Marcos to the United States, where he went on self-exile until 1989.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government, the agency set up by his estranged cousin and then president Corazon Aquino to sequester the ill-gotten wealth of Marcos and his cronies, went after Cojuangco’s stake in San Miguel as this was believed to have been bought using coconut levy funds.

This was because in the 1970s, upon the proposal of then defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile, Marcos imposed taxes – the coconut levy – on the production of coconuts, proceeds of which were supposed to fund the industry’s development.

Marcos tapped Cojuangco to administer the funds but coconut farmers contend that he funneled the money to set up a bank, now known as the United Coconut Planters Bank.

Cojuangco returned from exile in 1989 and in 1998, just nine days after his friend, then president Joseph Estrada was sworn into office, he became chairman of San Miguel again, elected by the government appointees in the board.

This started a new Cojuangco era in San Miguel that put the conglomerate to where it is now.

Under Cojuangco’s second stint at San Miguel, the company expanded by buying the local Coca-Cola franchise and diversified into various sectors such as power and packaging.

Cojuangco had other businesses before San Miguel. He built Northern Cement Corp. in 1967 in Pangasinan but it was his entry into Asia’s largest publicly listed food and beverage conglomerate that sustained his wealth.

Ramon Ang, president and COO of San Miguel, has long been Cojuangco’s trusted friend and business partner.

Both car enthusiasts, Ang, a mechanical engineering graduate, tinkered with Cojuangco’s collection of prized road queens.

Cojuangco trusted Ang, whom he treated like a son, not just with his cars but with his businesses, paving the way for Ang’s rise as a businessman.

He first appointed Ang as manager of Northern Cement.

When Cojuangco went into exile in the US in 1986, he trusted Ang to watch over his businesses in the country.

Ang in turn remained loyal to him even if others had distanced themselves from Cojuangco.

When he returned in 1989, Cojuangco recruited Ang to join him in San Miguel, first as vice chairman then president and chief operating officer.

In July 2017, Ang became the single biggest shareholder of San Miguel after acquiring Cojuangco’s 11 percent stake.

Cojuangco’s fellow businessmen described the tycoon as a visionary and a respected industrialist.

“He was a visionary and he was a good businessman,” one businessman who knew the Cojuangco clan said.

Isidro Consunji, chairman of engineering conglomerate DMCI Holdings that has projects with San Miguel, described Cojuangco as a businessman who was easy to get along with.

“I met Danding once only when he was campaigning for president. We were at Edsa Shang having drinks. He struck me as a ninong ng bayan type of person. Magaling makisama at mag-alaga ng tao. He was a Filipino godfather,” Consunji said.

Even the late senator Benigno Aquino Jr. had positive things to say about Cojuangco despite being on the opposite site of the political fence.

Aquino once described him as a man very “upfront and not devious.”

San Miguel, in a statement, said Cojuangco’s contributions to the company’s history are numerous and indelible.

“As SMC chairman, he guided our expansion, diversification and transformation.

“His vision for San Miguel – to be a beacon of hope for the Philippines and a partner in nation-building  – remains at the core of everything we do,” San Miguel said.

Senators mourned yesterday the passing of Cojuangco, whom they cited for his contributions to the nation.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, a leader of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) that Cojuangco founded, said his passing “leaves a big hole in our hearts.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said “San Miguel Corporation’s profit is the labor of thousands of its officers and employees.”

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri described Cojuangco as “a force of nature and his passing is a huge, huge loss – to the world of business, to the world of politics, even to the world of sports.”

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said: “His passing leaves us with a sad void.”

Sen. Grace Poe said Cojuangco always looked for ways to empower communities even as he opened up opportunities “for pervasive success as he believed deeply in the capabilities of Filipinos.”

Sen. Lito Lapid said he owed Cojuangco a huge debt of gratitude since he joined NPC when he first ran as vice governor of Pampanga in 1992.

Malacañang officials yesterday expressed sadness over the death of Cojuangco and praised him for his contributions to the economy.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Mr. Eduardo ‘Danding’ Cojuangco Jr. at the age of 85,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement.

Cojuangco, through SMC where he served as chairman of the board and chief executive officer, “had immense contribution to the socioeconomic development of the Philippines through the company’s operations in food, beverages, energy, power, oil refining and infrastructure,” he added.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Cojuangco was vital to SMC’s success as a conglomerate.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles called Cojuangco a “true titan, one of the last of his kind” in Philippine business and politics.  Paolo Romero, Alexis Romero