JGL Eye

By JOSEPH G. LARIOSA

(© 2009 Journal Group Link International)

CAN WATER BE THICKER THAN BLOOD?

C HICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – The health problem of Filipino business magnate Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco was in the news last week but it seems nobody took notice.

But there is really more than meets the eye.

With his frail health and advancing age at 74, Mr. Cojuangco is what an English idiom describes as the “elephant in the room,” which everybody is trying to ignore or is failing to address.

Believed to be a veteran backroom kingmaker, Mr. Cojuangco has gained the reputation of making or remaking a politician.

I once heard a scuttlebutt that when then President Joseph “Erap” Estrada met with Mr. Cojuangco early in his presidency, Mr. Estrada, who has always been respectful of his patrons, was seen saluting Cojuangco and greeting him “boss.” Mind you, Mr. Estrada was already the President at that time.

Those who witnessed the incident were surprised by the turn of events. But not me. Because it is Erap’s natural way of showing respect, not obeisance, to people.

But the way, Mr. Cojuangco’s health watch is being played up is like the way the secretive Chinese newspapers were playing down the frail health of Mao Tse Tung.

At the slightest news that Mao Tse Tung sneezed, everybody in the West was happy because they felt that the Chinese leader might have caught a Swine Flu, instead of sexually-transmitted disease. Mao Tse Tung died in 1976 at the age of 82 of heart disease called ALS or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's Disease.

But a distant family friend of the Cojuangcos told me that he finds it strange that the family members are not very straightforward with the public information about the health problem of their patriarch.

His son, Rep. Mark Cojuangco of Pangasinan, describes the health problem of his father in newspaper reports as heart related – abnormal heart rhythm.

FAVORED BY LUNG-CANCER PATIENTS

T he family friend told me that Stanford University hospital in San Francisco, California, where Mr. Cojuangco was confined, is known for treating lung-related health patients. He believes Mr. Cojuangco, who is smoker, like former President Estrada, has more problems with his lungs than his heart. The same friend asked if Mr. Cojuangco has a heart problem, why was he shown balding on television, a sign that he might have undergone chemotherapy that is common to patient with lung cancer?

If the hunch of the family friend is true that Mr. Cojuangco has lung cancer, it should be a big worry not only for the Cojuangco family but also for the Philippine government.

For the family, it will be big problem if the business tycoon will die intestate – without a will. But if Mr. Cojuangco dies testate, it is in the best interest of the family for Mr. Cojuangco to disclose his will in public before he dies.

Why? It will finally settle the long-rumored feud between Cojuangco and his son, Mark, for giving Ramon Ang full control of the San Miguel Corporation.

The friend told me that Mark pleaded to his father, “I just introduced you to Mr. Ramon Ang and now you are giving him all the trust and confidence to run your business at my expense. I am your son. How could you do it to your son?”

Ever since Mark questioned his father’s decision to exclude him from running his father’s conglomerate, they were no longer on speaking terms.

The friend said Mark only reconciled with his father when the business tycoon was gravely ill.

The friend knew personally Ramon Ang, who was a lowly mechanic, when he was introduced by Mark’s car-racer friend to Mr. Ang. “Dahil sa mahusay ang bokadura ni Ang, madali niya napa-believe si Danding. (Because Ramon Ang has a gift of gab, he was able to easily win over the father after Mark introduced Ramon to the father.) 

GUIDED DANDING’S BUSINESSES WELL

B ut in fairness to Ramon, he was able to run the businesses of Danding while Danding was in exile for three years. And Ramon gained the full trust and confidence of Danding when Ramon showed to Danding that he did not cheat the company.

Noong exile pa si Danding, hindi pa naman daw connected sa SMC si Ramon kungdi sa ibang business pa ni Danding.

Will Danding disinherit Mark as a result of the family feud? That remains to be seen.

But the one big worry for the Philippine government is when Danding dies without eliciting a comment from Danding if he had any role in the killing of Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr.

Last year, a freed soldier-convict had implicated Danding Cojuangco as the mastermind in the assassination of Ninoy Aquino. But the Aquino family did not bite it, as the family still believes it was Ferdinand Marcos.

Instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to put Mr. Cojuangco in a hot seat, the Arroyo government passed up the chance by failing to initiate an investigation on Danding’s role in Aquino’s assassination.

So, even if Aquino’s son, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III, wins the presidency in May, it is a safe bet that he would not investigate his uncle. Nor will Danding’s other nephew, Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro do it – in a remote possibility that Gibo wins.

I don’t know if Noynoy’s closest rival, Sen. Manny Villar, or comebacking President Estrada would have the political will to investigate Danding’s role in the assassination of Aquino.

Whatever it is, if not one of the presidentiables will pledge to investigate Mr. Cojuangco before he dies, “Danding” will be carrying a secret to his grave. (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net) # # #

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