Honors for Danding Cojuangco

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor CEDELF P. TUPAS Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The Negros Tsinoys, an organization of Filipinos of Chinese descent in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City, are honoring today former Ambassador to the United States, Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. whom they have declared officially as an adopted son. It is significant that the group has chosen to bestow this distinction on Cojuangco during the celebration of the Bacolaodiat, the festival initiated in the city last year that focuses on the merging of Chinese and Filipino cultures, especially that exemplified by the people of Bacolod City.

In their bestowal of the distinction on the former Philippine envoy, the group cited his "foresight, dedication and passion for excellence" that have made a name for him and for his country in the business and industrial world.

It also underscored his accomplishments in adopting in Negros the diversification in agriculture that so many had been advocating and talking about in the past, but had not succeeded in implementing.

Of course Negrenses acknowledge that Cojuangco has long been considered one of them because of his marriage to one of the province's most gifted and talented daughters whose love and longing for her native province he shared. This eventually led to their "homecoming" when they settled in Pontevedra, Negros Occidental, where, together, they changed the landscape of an area affecting several other towns and made it more productive than it had ever been. And it will not be surprising if these initiatives that have already started to catch on, continue to do so, especially with the generosity and concern that the couple has also shown to other sectors, not the least of it the education sector.

The Negros Tsinoys noted that Cojuangco has roots in China, being a fifth generation Chinese. With the impact of the projects he has developed in agriculture, industry, business, sports, and many others, on Asian countries and even in the United States and Europe, he may well be considered as one Negrense who could also qualify as a citizen of the world.*