Gibo, the nickname of the administration party’s standard-bearer, Gilbert Teodoro, is a nephew of Cojuangco’s.

Gretchen told reporters that as far as she was concerned, Teodoro would always be “the person who abandoned her husband.”

“I feel bad for my husband because Gibo left without saying a word to his uncle who helped and supported him (in his political career) for nine years,” she said.

Teodoro, the only son of Danding Cojuangco’s younger sister Mercedes, began his political career in 1998 as a congressman of Tarlac under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), the party founded by his uncle.

A Harvard-trained lawyer and a professional pilot, Teodoro was appointed secretary of national defense by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2007. He bolted Cojuangco’s NPC last year and joined the administration’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD, which later named him its standard-bearer.

“My husband had big plans for him,” said Gretchen.

“Indi bala, in our culture dapat magpasalamat ka (Isn’t it that in our culture we have to say thank you) to those who helped you, or you ask permission before you leave to pursue your endeavors? Pero wala ni hay ni hoy (But he did not say a word), she said of Teodoro.

“Don’t misinterpret me. I am just speaking about what I feel as a wife…how much he (Danding) was hurt,” Gretchen said. “We feel very bad for him.”

She said Teodoro had not attempted to get in touch with his uncle since he left.

Reached for comment, Teodoro replied in a text message to the Inquirer: “Matters of the state such as the presidency should not be a family affair.”

Pressed if it was true that he did not make a formal goodbye to his uncle, Teodoro texted back: “That’s my final word. The country is of utmost importance, personal family considerations shouldn’t have any place in the consideration of the national interest.”

Another Cojuangco nephew, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is also running for president under the Liberal Party—also without his uncle’s support.

Danding Cojuangco rose to become one of the richest and most powerful men in the country as a crony of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He still heads the country’s biggest food and beverage conglomerate, San Miguel Corp.

Referred to by his subordinates as “Boss,” Cojuangco fled the country together with Marcos after a four-day revolt booted the Marcoses out of power. He eventually returned and made a bid for the presidency in 1992 but lost.

He is still considered the purse and power behind the NPC. The party, however, does not have a candidate for this year’s presidential election. Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero resigned from the NPC, while Sen. Loren Legarda slid down to run for vice president, reportedly after both failed to get Cojuangco’s full backing.

On reports that Danding Cojuangco’s health was failing, Gretchen said, “My husband’s health is okay.”

People should stop spreading erroneous information about my husband and should instead pray for him, she said.

“Like all of us he is helping our country a lot in his own little way,” she added.

Gretchen Cojuangco was in Bacolod Saturday to speak on behalf of her husband at the graduation of 119 policemen from postgraduate courses at the University of St. La Salle on scholarships provided by her husband.

Family feuds aside, administration party spokesperson Ben Evardone, the governor of Eastern Samar, said Teodoro had a good chance of winning “once the administration party’s machinery starts to move.”

Evardone told the Inquirer in Tacloban City on Saturday that Teodoro’s low survey ratings “will change once the local campaign starts.”

“While I respect these surveys, which are all done scientifically, its results are not necessarily the outcome of the elections,” Evardone said.

Various surveys place Teodoro behind the top three presidential contenders: LP’s Aquino, Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party and Joseph Estrada of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino.

Evardone said the administration party had a complete lineup down to the municipal level, and when the local campaign starts in March, they would all push for the presidential bid of Teodoro.

This, Evardone said, would give the former defense secretary a formidable edge over his rivals. With reports from Fe Zamora in Manila and Joey A. Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas