Political Life
Cojuangco was representative of the First District of Tarlac to the 10th Philippine Legislature in 1934-35, the First Philippine National Assembly in 1935-1938, the Second National Assembly in 1938-1941 and the Third National Assembly in 1941-1946.
He represented Tarlac in the same way that his father Don Melecio Cojuangco did as the first ever representative of Tarlac in the First Philippine Legislature of 1907-1909. (Don Melecio's political career was cut short when he suffered a fatal heart attack in the Urdaneta-Manila train while defending his sons Jose (Pepe) and Juan (Itoy) from American soldiers wanting to sidestep the youngsters from their seats. Mauricio Ilagan served the remaining 4 years (till 1912) of his term).
While in Congress, Don Pepe was one of two representing the province of Tarlac. The other one was Benigno S. Aquino, Sr., whose son from his second marriage, Ninoy Aquino became the husband to Don Pepe's daughter, Cory Aquino. In essence, the current Philippine President Noynoy Aquino's paternal and maternal grandfathers sat side by side for Tarlac from 1935–1938 and again from 1941-1946.
Don Pepe Cojuangco retired from politics after World War II and thus avoided a clash with his younger brother, Eduardo Sr. or Endeng Lalake, the charismatic governor of Tarlac province. When he quit politics, his personal wealth was preserved unlike his good friend and future in-law Benigno Aquino, Sr's, whose lands and cash holdings decreased dramatically by using it for social welfare programs in their home province.
Read more about this topic: Jose Cojuangco
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