BY JULLIE Y. DAZA
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DANDING Cojuangco, sportsman, kingmaker, tycoon, he who lived life large. For him, no gray areas, no half-cocked plans, no measuring by the teaspoon. His passion was sports, winning, living life to the full.
You could tell by the twinkle in his eyes preceding the two seconds before cracking a joke or telling a funny story. His smiles were as big as his appetite for scoring a deal. A former farm hand (who was eventually recruited for a job in the city) said it best: “Sir Danding was koboy” (cowboy). Every celebration, impromptu or not, was fiesta-size with lechon and barbecue, memorable because the Boss was in his element, as himself. “He ate with us, he ate with his hands, he listened to our corny stories and he showed us how much he enjoyed being with us.”
Twice I had my share of Danding moments up close and casual, back in the day. We had lunch once in his office in San Miguel Corp. on a street named after the company. A private lunch it was, meaning the food came from somewhere in the building, and we talked about everything but business and San Miguel. An hour later, he led me to the basement where the now defunct San Miguel Symphony Orchestra was rehearsing without their director and conductor, Ryan Cayabyab.
My first Danding event, it was like spring had sprung in another country. Hacienda Balbina, Pontevedra, Negros Occ. was more than a farm, it was an orchard, a plantation, a piece of Eden where flowers, fruits, vegetables, trees grew in harmony under a limitless blue sky. The secret, it was pointed out to me, was Israeli technology (and artistry, I guessed). The land was an orderly, precise pattern of grids, where everything that grew was programmed to be healthy, productive, useful and beautiful. The Israeli experts even built a greenhouse for Gretchen, who moved around in a white cotton shirt and blue jeans as she proudly showed off an array of baby plants in their experimental stage.
A niece’s final tribute: “Tarlac’s favorite son, a gentleman with a common touch, fluent in many dialects. Boss, Ambassador, ECJ, Pare, Brad, Tito Danding has gone home to Our Father in heaven. May he rest in peace.”
