Reference: Pinoy Patriots Media Bureau, c/o MELANIO MAURICIO JR., 0917 984 24 68 or 0922 833 43 96

PEPING LAMBASTS

LIBERAL PARTY

FOR BLAMING HIM FOR

LP LOSSES IN THE

MAY 2010 POLLS

            Calling news reports and opinion columns naming him as the leader of an opposition group against President Aquino as “miserably misleading”, former Tarlac Rep. Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. said yesterday he is not involved in any way with any opposition force against the President.

            In a press statement released to the media through the group Pinoy Patriots, the presidential uncle also lambasted the Liberal Party headed by its President Mar Roxas for putting the blame on ex-Rep. Cojuangco for their loss in the May 2010 elections, saying it was the Filipino people who “emphatically rejected LP’s unacceptable candidates, including  Mar Roxas for vice president.”

Mr. Cojuangco however clarified: “But I will always be in fierce and unyielding opposition to any and all self-serving partisan efforts and characters who put their interests before and above those of our people.”

            In the same press statement, Cojuangco deplored the recent rush of media reports and opinion columns falsely picturing him as leading a United Opposition which is talking to Gloria Arroyo, or strengthening LABAN, the party he formed for then Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., to fight the current administration, allegedly because he is being ignored by President Aquino and his sisters and his core groups.

            The press statement follows:

CORRUPT NILA  O CORRUPT NINYO, 

PARE PAREHO BA LAHAT KAYO ?

It is dangerous if not fatal to believe that winning an election or even especially - losing one - also bestows a monopoly on virtue and good intentions.

by Jose 'Peping' Cojuangco, Jr.

I used to be more widely known as the bayaw of Ninoy. Then as the husband of Tingting. Then as the brother of President Cory. Then as the Dad of Mikee. And now course, as the uncle of President Aquino.

I also know that my name is one of those inevitably mentioned whenever critics of our family bring up their well worn smear word as their all-purpose demolition device - Kamaganak, Inc.

The notion of a Kamaganak Inc is as revolting and repulsive to me as it is to everyone, and even more so to all of our family members who have had to bear this unfair and unfounded burden that has come with the territory of having a President in the family. And now, two Presidents.

The fact is that we Pilipinos overwhelmingly elected Cory's only son because we want her courage and honesty to continue guiding our leaders in governing the country, regardless of the qualifications, experience, or abilities of her senator child. Voting him in was a resounding rejection of the corruption of Gloria and her allies, and a very clear declaration that we have had enough of the dishonesty, deception, and duplicity through Gloria's remaining appointees or her anointed successors. 

The Pilipinos also decisively proclaimed their distaste for naked partisan politics, emphatically rejecting unacceptable candidates of the Liberal Party, including Mar Roxas for Vice President - something that the Liberals prematurely crowed over as a "done deal" when for a brief period, he enjoyed better projected poll numbers than Noynoy Aquino.

So again, I have been singled out as the convenient scapegoat for the embarrassing losses of the Liberal Party. If their candidate for Vice President can not hang on to the coat tails of the overwhelming landslide victory of his running mate, why of course, this can only be the work of none other but that wily and crafty Peping. Undoubtedly, he orchestrated and deployed all his political resources and allies to ensure his nephew's win, and the spectacular and stunning triumph of the well known Cory loyalist, Jojo Binay, over the hapless, shocked, and overmatched  Mister Palengke and Mister Tricycle.

When the expected crush for political appointments materialized immediately after the election, I did not sponsor anyone for any high ranking position in the new administration. But instead of being hailed for not meddling in the frenzy of new appointments, I was characterized as  being "outside the loop", toxic, and persona non grata. Ironically, it has been the losing Liberal Party candidates who have feverishly inserted themselves at the feasting trough, cleverly guilting the winning President into balatos and consuelo de bobos, unmindful and spiteful of their wholesale rejection by the electorate.

Not wishing to distract from the new President's efforts and programs, I have tried to avoid any public back and forth about the  continuous and well manipulated defamation designed to keep me distant from and unwholesome for his image. I have accepted this as the expected strategy of those wanting to preserve and entrench their influence within the new administration.

But my silence has only emboldened the desperate and the greedy, as the end of the one year ban on the appointment of losing candidates approaches.

Recently, columns, articles, and programs have renewed the concoctions and fabrications at my expense. One has me leading a "United Opposition as the advisor and convenor of political forces disgruntled by PNoy's performance ". Another claims outright that I have refurbished my LABAN  movement for no foreseeable purpose than to fight the current administration. 

The innuendoes have become shrill enough to openly announce that I resent being ignored by the core groups of President Aquino. That I am being coldly treated by the Presidential sisters. That the President and his sisters distance themselves from me in political matters, especially in appointments to the government.

One miserably misleading report even floated the unthinkable "prospect" of my meeting with Gloria for a proposed coalition as an actual event that is being passed around as fact instead of fantasy.

Never mind that one such as I, supposedly powerful enough to stage the defeat of a sure winner in the Vice Presidential poll is, on the other hand, being derided as  not only completely undesirable but a disgraceful political liability to the election's biggest winner and his sisters?

That my entire direct family worked nonstop for the President's election is undeniable and on record. In particular, my daughter Mikee, along with her husband Dodot, toiled with my wife Tingting and all my other children throughout the campaign. Tirelessly. Indefatigably. And as it has turned out, thanklessly as well.

There is no rift between the President and myself, in spite of the accurate statements in the press that none of our followers who worked endlessly for his election have been rewarded with choice government positions. All of the volunteers in my various reform movements labored freely without remuneration, and unmotivated by gaining any government position or reward, unlike so many in the President's own Liberal Party who had to be reimbursed extravagantly before they would even begin to "support" President Aquino.

In fact, the Cojuangco families are very thankful that the Abads (we have an Abad as the secretary of the DBM, an Abad as Secretary to the PMS, an Abad as Vice Chairman od the House Committee on Appropriations, and an Abad as chief of staff of the Secretary of Finance. The Abad nepotism has so metastasized through the body of this administrtion that they have even managed to be included in the plunder charges recently filed against Gloria and her known galamans - these Abads have, faster than one can scream "magkakamaganak bang lahat ito?" now quickly snatched the label of "KamagAnak Inc  for their own families's use - shamelessly, insensitively,and defiantly - regardless of the lack of delicadesa and basic decency.

Apparently, the dictates against the appearances of nepotism only apply to my family members, which sadly have not been fortunate enough to be named Puno, Ochoa, Abad, or Roxas. Obviously, we can also dismiss any smirks over the stigma of charges about Kabarkadas were we lucky enough to be named Alvarez.

I, and my children, are so honored and humbled to be able to say that my wife preferred to step down from her career post at the PPSC, rather than cause even the slightest appearance of public bickering within the President's family (though she was appointed by GMA not by BCA, and is also technically not a direct relative), taking the high road over petty and distasteful public rows. She has set a sterling example of honor in public behavior that does me and all our children proud, not to mention continuing with the high standards of behavior and principles inspired by my my sister Cory and Ninoy.

In closing, let me be clear that I have never been involved in any way with any opposition force against my nephew.

But I will always be in fierce and unyielding opposition to any and all self-serving partisan efforts and characters who put their interests before and above those of our people.

Thanking you sincerely,

Jose 'Peping' Cojuangco Jr,

LABAN PA RIN

PARA SA BAYAN.