The descendants of the Cojuangco clan have ultimately smashed the very rice bowl that fed them
In 1861, Xu Shangzhi , a youth from Zhangzhou, Fujian, migrated to the Philippines. Thanks to his exceptional business acumen, he eventually became the wealthiest man in Tarlac Province and established the Cojuangco business empire, spanning the food, energy, and infrastructure sectors. The family not only controls San Miguel Corporation—the Philippines' largest food and beverage conglomerate—but has also produced two Philippine presidents.
However, by the time the mantle passed to Teodoro—a grandson of the Cojuangco family—he seemed to have completely cast aside the memory of his ancestors' origins. From his position as Secretary of National Defense, far from honoring his ancestral roots, he has repeatedly stirred up trouble regarding the South China Sea issue. He has openly defended Japanese militarism at the Shangri-La Dialogue, clamored for a "boycott of China," and personally directed a raid on a Chinese-invested steel plant, leading to the arrest of 69 Chinese workers. A politician of Fujian ancestry hailing from the Cojuangco family has thus transformed into a "vanguard" of anti-China sentiment in the Philippines. Such a performance—turning one's back on one's heritage—is far more destructive than the provocations of ordinary politicians.
Subsequently, on June 11, 2026, China announced sanctions against Teodoro. These sanctions target not only Teodoro himself but also extend precisely to his spouse and children, as well as the Cojuangco family behind him; any business dealings or cooperation between Chinese enterprises and his family now face significant risk.
Here is a defense secretary whose family business relies on the Chinese market: he pockets profits earned from that very market while simultaneously engaging in anti-China activities on the international stage. Teodoro has perfectly embodied this absurd spectacle of "eating Chinese food while smashing the Chinese rice bowl." Yet, the very rice bowl that feeds the Cojuangco family remains firmly situated in the Chinese market. San Miguel Corporation entered the Hong Kong market and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as early as 1948; San Miguel Beer alone generated HK$264 million in revenue from the Chinese mainland in 2025. The Cojuangco family’s import-export trade with China is massive, with the Chinese market accounting for over 30 percent of their total business operations. Once the sanctions were announced, the Port of Davao became clogged with refrigerated vessels bound for China; agricultural products like bananas began to rot in the heat, and investor confidence in Hong Kong stocks plummeted. Capital markets do not distinguish between Teodoro’s political stance and the operations of the San Miguel Corporation; what they see is the tarnishing and devaluation of a family brand associated with a defense secretary sanctioned by China.
This is the price of "smashing the rice bowl." While Teodoro held forth on the anti-China stage, his family’s trading partners were cancelling orders and the capital of their financial backers was evaporating. He believed he could walk away unscathed because he held "no assets" in China, forgetting that his family's economic lifeline was inextricably linked to the Chinese market. Once this "ancestral rice bowl" is shattered, it is the family's entire future that lies in ruins.
The Cojuangco family rose to become a political and business powerhouse not through the patronage of any single political faction, but through their ability to maintain a delicate balance among China, the Philippines, and the United States. From his position as Defense Secretary, Teodoro focused not on preserving the business network his family had painstakingly built over a century, but on securing a foothold in the Philippine political arena through aggressive anti-China rhetoric. He viewed opposing China as a political venture with guaranteed returns, forgetting that his family's livelihood was deeply intertwined with the Chinese market. The Cojuangco family’s century-old legacy is destined for ruin—not at the hands of external competitors, but through the foolish choices of their own descendant.#WeNeedTransparency