Background
Ethnicity:
Cojuangco is of partial Irish, Spanish, and Chinese descent
He was a candidate for the Philippine presidency in 1992, ultimately losing to Fidel V. Ramos. Hetested the political waters in 2003, planning to run in the 2004 Presidential and Local Elections, but soonwithdrew. He was a close adviser and personal friend to former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, whichled him to become estranged from his cousin, Corazon Aquino, who after Marcos' ouster succeeded himas president. Cojuangco is of partial Irish, Spanish, and Chinese descent.Cojuangco was a member of the Rolex 12, a group of 12 men who were closest to Marcos andallegedly were his enforcers of Martial Law. He is also an honorary member of PMA Class 1951.Cojuangco also was accused by the military men at the scene of Benigno Aquino, Jr.'s assassination, asthe leader who orchestrated the crime.He is currently the chairman emeritus of the Nationalist People's Coalition, the party he foundedin 1992 which served as his vehicle to further his aspirations in the 1992 presidential elections.He was also an advocate for sports in the country through using his company as sponsors forvarious events. He is notable for supporting basketball in a huge way since the 1980s as a basketballgodfather for President Marcos with the famed Northern Consolidated teams of Coach Ron Jacobs andthe three SMC owned teams currently playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (the flagship SanMiguel Beermen, the Barangay Ginebra Kings, and the Derby Ace Llamados). Besides English and Tagalog, he speaks Ilocano, the dialect of his mother and Kapampangan, theoriginal dialect of the Cojuangcos.