Danding Cojuangco’s every move is being watched closely by the KMP

MANILA, Philippines—Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco a kingmaker no more?

“Who is Danding trying to fool? For all we know this is just a ploy so that neither of his nephews would suffer the stigma of being supported by Danding, the biggest landlord in the country and arguably the top crony of Ferdinand Marcos,” said Felix Paz, national council member of the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).

Former Negros Occidental Rep. Charlie Cojuangco has said that his controversial father will not support any presidential candidate in the May elections although his nephews, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and former Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, are in the race.

In a statement, Paz said that peasants were “closely watching (Danding’s) every move,” believing that the tycoon remains the kingmaker that he has always been touted to be in politics.

Aside from protecting his businesses, the elder Cojuangco has his sights set on the controversial P130-billion coconut levy fund, which he is seeking to control, Paz said. In this, the businessman needs the support of whoever sits in Malacañang, he said.

“It is definitely within his interest to support and invest on a candidate or even candidates to get this target. It is also within Philippine political dynamics that businessmen especially those as big as Danding to covertly support multiple candidates so that they also win whoever among them wins,” Paz said.

The peasant leader urged all presidential candidates to let the public know their stand on the return of the coco levy funds to the small coconut farmers, the implementation of a genuine agrarian reform, and the prosecution of companies, groups and individuals who had used money intended for farmers for their own interests.

“If they cannot categorically say that they are for these issues then it is more likely than not that Danding is supporting them,” Paz said.

The elder Cojuangco’s abstention from presidential politics, if true, could signal the end of an era of political kingmakers, Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. said in a text message.

“The next president will ignore all would-be kingmakers. New politics is coming. Watch,” Locsin said.

But Speaker Prospero Nograles does not subscribe to the power of so-called political kingmakers.

“There are no kingmakers in Philippine politics. If they could be kingmakers, they would have long declared themselves king,” Nograles said.


source: inquirer