Tingting Cojuangco on Kris running for governor: ‘I’d leave the country’

CLARK FREEPORT—Should she run for governor of Tarlac province, TV host and movie actress Kris Aquino won’t have to spar with her aunt, former Tarlac Gov. Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco, who said she’d rather leave than see her famous niece-in-law in an elective position.

“I’ll just leave the country,” the 70-year-old former model said in jest when Kris’ running for public office was broached in a forum of the Capampangan in Media Inc. at the Holiday Inn here on Feb. 20.

Cojuangco said she had heard reports that Kris will seek an elective position to protect her elder brother, President Aquino.

“The only one who can protect Noynoy (the President’s nickname] is [Vice President Jejomar] Binay,” said the former Tarlac governor.

Cojuangco said she is not running for Tarlac governor because she did not want to compete against Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) founder and president, businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr.

“They want to control us but we don’t want to be controlled,” she said.

Cojuangco recalled that Danding had campaigned for Tarlac Gov. Victor Yap to defeat a niece, Dr. Isabel Cojuangco-Suntay. He fielded his brother, Tarlac Rep. Enrique “Henry” Cojuangco, to challenge former Tarlac Rep. Monica Louise Prieto-Teodoro, wife of defeated presidential candidate Gilbert Teodoro, a nephew.

The hold of Paniqui Mayor Miguel Rivilla, a Cojuangco relative, on his post has been loosened through an election case filed by former provincial board member, Rommel David, an NPC leader.

Tingting said Rivilla’s mother, Lourdes, Danding’s first cousin, went to Henry before she died in December last year to ask about the dispute with David. “Henry did not reply,” she said.

She said this is the sort of family politics that Kris would be addressing in case she goes into local politics.