Jose Cojuangco - Death

Death

He died on August 21, 1976.

He died during the darkest days of the Jose Cojuangcos. All of his businesses were under extreme scrutiny by the Marcoses.

Many banks refused to extend credit for fear of government retaliation. Only Chinabank of Binondo, whose owners Don Pepe assisted when they themselves were just starting out, defied the government and helped him. (His granddaughter Victoria Eliza Cojuangco Aquino or Viel, would later marry into this banking family now headed by former Ambassador to the Vatican Howard Dee).

His sons Pete and Peping lost the bid to own the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company after it was awarded to Monching Cojuangco, Antonio Meer, and his Ongsiako brother-in-law. (Imelda de la Paz Ongsiako Cojuangco, Monching's wife, was a Blue Lady of Imelda Marcos, and wedding sponsor to presidential daughter Irene Marcos Araneta).

His First United Bank was renamed and was spun off by President Marcos as a front to illegally collect coconut levy funds, hence the reason why United Coconut Planters Bank is sometimes referred to as Cocobank.

The transportation companies he owned with the Lopa family were also lost to Marcos cronies. Benjamin "Kokoy" Romualdez, brother of Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos, took over the First Manila Management Corp., the mother company of Mantrade (which handled the distribution of Ford Motors and other motor vehicles) and the Pantranco bus company (painted with vibrant hearts of every color, the fleet earned the moniker "Lovebus"), shorty after the death of Cojuangco's business partner, Manuel Lopa, Sr., in 1974. (With his death, the conglomerate lost their immunity from the Marcoses, since Lopa shared a close friendship with Imelda's late uncle, Daniel Romualdez y Zialcita, Speaker Pro Tempore of the Philippine Congress, who died suddenly via a heart attack, a few months before his niece Imelda Marcos rose as Philippine First Lady, in 1965.) Lopa's son (and Cojuangco's son-in-law), Ricardo "Baby" Lopa, was then ousted from the company.

Cojuangco no longer controlled the Bank of Commerce, which was closest to his heart, as it was the first non-agricultural company he founded. Also, it was the last company that, out of family solidarity, he formed insisting that all four branches of the Cojuangco should co-own. His departure from Bank of Commerce left Don Pepe's psyche bruised and his spirit betrayed.

His lawyer, Juan Ponce Enrile, a son of his old friend and attorney, the Spanish mestizo Alfonso Ponce Enrile (father of Armida Siguion Reyna and Irma Potenciano), has since not been able to help him speak to President Marcos even when the latter was the designated Defense Minister.

Neither can his nephew, Danding Cojuangco, a Marcos associate, could do anything to help Cojuangco. He himself comforted his old uncle, saying "Tio Pepe, huwag na po kayong umiyak" (Uncle Pepe, please do not cry).

One of his lasting words to his family was "Kawawa naman si Cory" (Oh how pitiful Cory is!), as he died broken hearted to see this daughter of his harassed and harangued by the Marcos government for being the woman Ninoy Aquino chose as his wife.

In 1979, his last surviving brother, Juan Cojuangco, died. Some of his wealth devolved back to his six nephews and eight nieces. The rest was left to his second wife, Doña Hati, who formed the Cojuangco Aldaba Foundation.

Ten years after Don Pepe's death, in 1986, Cory Aquino would be swept into the presidency of the Philippines, while President Ferdinand Marcos, Benjamin Romualdez, Danding Cojuangco, and their extended families, fled to Hawaii and mainland United States.