Cojuangco's close relationship with Philippine president
Ferdinand E. Marcos earned him a reputation as one of the late dictator's most powerful "
cronies".
Role during Martial Law Cojuangco was the only civilian among the "
Rolex 12", a group of 12 men who planned and enforced the 1972 imposition of
Martial Law. He was accused of being the mastermind behind
Benigno Aquino Jr.'s assassination by one of the military men convicted in the Aquino-Galman murder case, although Aquino's daughter
Kris has stated that whomever she believes killed her father she could "categorically say not Danding Cojuangco."
Coco Levy Fund controversy Cojuangco was implicated in the
Coco Levy Fund controversy, a decades-long dispute over funds acquired by the Philippine Government when the Marcos administration levied a tax on copra sold by the Philippines' coconut farmers from 1973 to 1982. The stated intent of the plan, spearheaded by Cojuangco, was to develop the Philippine coconut industry. But the amount, consolidated in the
United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), was alleged to have instead been channelled to the private financial interests of the
Marcos family and their
close associates. The government alleged Cojuangco to have used the coconut levy funds to gain control of a 72.2% stake in United Coconut Planters Bank in 1975; in two blocks of about 20% and 27%, respectively. In 1983, Cojuangco acquired a 20% stake in
San Miguel Corporation, which the
Presidential Commission on Good Government later said he did using the windfalls from the coconut levy fund and
United Coconut Planters Bank. Later that year, San Miguel Corporation bought back the government's stake for P57.6 billion, ending a 26-year period in which the Philippine government was a major voting block in the corporation. In November of the same year, the court ruled that a 72.2% stake in UCPB was owned by the state, because they were bought using coco levy funds. == Political roles after 1986 ==