Danding Cojuangco reassumes NPC chairmanship

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp.'s chairman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuanco Jr. is returning as the chairman of the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC), Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III confirmed on Saturday.

"Yes. It's his birthday today and he (Cojuangco) will announce the Council of Leader later," Sotto said in a text message to GMA News Online.

Sotto said Cojuangco - who has long been the chairman emeritus of the political party - will take the active role as chairman as the NPC is already preparing for the 2019 mid-term elections.

"He wants to fortify the structure of the party," Sotto said.

He also clarified that the business tycoon and former ambassador has "no particular interest in any public office."

According the NPC, the political party was born out of the 1992 presidential campaign, when Cojuangco ran as the party's standard bearer. However, he lost to Fidel Ramos.

The NPC supported independent candidate Grace Poe in the May 2016 presidential election.

When PDP-Laban's Rodrigo Duterte won the helm of Malacañang, the political party pledge support for the President and allied with the so-called "super majority" in Congress. —ALG, GMA News