Former Tarlac Rep. Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RODEL ROTONI
GERONA, Tarlac—As President Aquino rallied Filipinos to unite behind the presidential bid of Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, his own relatives are sharply divided over who to support in next year’s presidential elections.
In Mr. Aquino’s home province of Tarlac, members of the Cojuangco clan, the President’s maternal relatives, declared their support for the presidential candidacy of one of Roxas’ most bitter opponents, Vice President Jejomar Binay.
This became very clear on Thursday when former Tarlac Rep. Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., Mr. Aquino’s maternal uncle, led local officials in welcoming Binay to this town, the first of four Tarlac towns that Binay was scheduled to visit this week.
“As far as the Vice President and I are concerned, we have a very long friendship that goes way back to 1978,” said Cojuangco, younger brother of the late President Corazon Aquino, the President’s mother.
He said Binay was his lawyer when they worked in the campaign for the bid of his brother-in-law, the slain Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., for a seat in the Batasang Pambansa.
“It was a very hard fight because all of our leaders were jailed,” he said, noting it was only Binay who was able to work for the release of some of them.
“[Binay] gambled with his life for us to have democracy. So, it’s that kind of camaraderie that I cannot just let go,” Cojuangco said.
He said other relatives, including his wife, former Tarlac Gov. Margarita Cojuangco, are supporting Binay. He, however, refused to name them, saying their clan might be perceived to be divided.
Cojuangco said Mr. Aquino knew that he was supporting Binay.
He said it is also not correct to describe Tarlac as President Aquino’s bailiwick.
“Why only him? I was congressman here for 20 years. My wife was also governor here for three terms. You know, it’s difficult to predict [the outcome of the elections]. Let’s just see the results,” Cojuangco said.
Asked what Binay should expect in Tarlac in the 2016 elections, he said: “Victory.”
But he said it is also important that next year’s elections are clean. “If we repeat what happened in 2013, we won’t know who won. Smartmatic should prove to us that they cannot manipulate [the 2016 elections] like they did in 2013,” he said.
Mr. Aquino had officially declared Roxas as the administration candidate for President next year in a move that came weeks after Binay, a close friend of the Aquino family, resigned from the Cabinet as housing czar and lambasted Mr. Aquino’s failures in a move that signaled his break from the administration.
Binay came out firing against Mr. Aquino, calling the President’s governance “inane” and “inept.”
Malacañang fired back at Binay, saying the Vice President spent five years as a member of the Cabinet without a word about what he deemed to be wrong in the administration.
Binay, however, insists his friendship with the Aquino family remains intact despite his barrage of criticisms against the President.
Following his endorsement of Roxas, Mr. Aquino made an appeal to Filipinos to unite behind Roxas’ presidential run as official candidate of the ruling Liberal Party.