José "Pepe" Chichioco Cojuangco Sr., KSS (July 3, 1896 – August 21, 1976) was a Filipino politician who served as Representative of the 1st District of Tarlac in the Philippines from 1934 to 1946.

Tecla was the great-grandniece of Don Tiburcio Jumaquio and Doña Urzula Gutierrez, hacienderos and merchants of Kapitangan, Paombong, Bulacan.

Cojuangco was the oldest of four siblings: Among the four male heirs of the Cojuangcos, Don Pepe (as José was remembered) was the only one born in Malolos, Bulacan, where his father Melecio built the secret stairway in Barasoain Church used by the Spanish friars to smuggle women into their private quarters.

In the 1940s, with less than a day's notice, he left the Cojuangco mansion (built in 1933) along Agno Street (near De La Salle College) in Malate, Manila for the safety of Antipolo, Rizal (political bailiwick of his wife's relatives).

Meanwhile, his aunt Ysidra and brother Eduardo Sr. ("Endeng") fled to Baguio city where they thought the Japanese would not go and where there were large Cojuangco apartments.

While Ysidra, her nephews and their families all sought shelter at the Baguio Cathedral during the bombardments, the Antonio Cojuangcos were trapped in the De La Salle College chapel where they were massacred by the desperate Japanese.

He and his son-in-law, Benigno Aquino Jr. ("Ninoy"), introduced strong social programs favoring the farmers of the hacienda.

While Cojuangco was genuinely loved by the farmers under his management (free healthcare, free schooling, adult education, veterinary medicines for the farm animals, designated areas for employee housing), the stark treatment concerning the dollars relating to Endeng's survival and his subsequent death from kidney failure versus the grand business move in purchasing Hacienda Luisita added insult to injury to Endeng's side of the family.

In the 1960s, Cojuangco's bus company (Pantranco) and banking arm expanded to open satellite offices all over the country.

The Cojuangco family owned so much land in Central Luzon that they could dictate the price of rice and non-Visayan sugar.

When the 1970s set in, Don Pepe had already resigned from his Philippine Bank of Commerce (PBC) position and sold all his shares to avoid a boardroom coup by the other branches of the Cojuangco family.

(Don Melecio's political career was cut short when he suffered a fatal heart attack in the Urdaneta-Manila train while defending his sons Jose (Pepe) and Juan (Itoy) from American soldiers wanting to sidestep the youngsters from their seats.

Don Pepe Cojuangco retired from politics after World War II and thus avoided a clash with his younger brother, Eduardo Sr. or Endeng Lalake, the charismatic governor of Tarlac province.

When he quit politics, his personal wealth was preserved unlike his good friend and future in-law Benigno Aquino Sr's, whose lands and cash holdings decreased dramatically by using it for social welfare programs in their home province.

(His granddaughter Victoria Eliza Cojuangco Aquino or Viel, would later marry into this banking family now headed by former Ambassador to the Vatican Howard Dee).

His sons Pete and Peping lost the bid to own the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company after it was awarded to Monching Cojuangco, Antonio Meer, and brother-in-law Oscar Ongsiako.

Benjamin "Kokoy" Romualdez, brother of Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos, took over the First Manila Management Corp., the mother company of Mantrade (which handled the distribution of Ford Motors and other motor vehicles) and the Pantranco bus company (painted with vibrant hearts of every color, the fleet earned the moniker "Lovebus"), shortly after the death of Cojuangco's business partner, Manuel Lopa, Sr., in 1974.

(With his death, the conglomerate lost their immunity from the Marcoses, since Lopa shared a close friendship with Imelda's late uncle, Daniel Romualdez y Zialcita, Speaker Pro Tempore of the Philippine Congress, who died suddenly via a heart attack, a few months before his niece Imelda Marcos rose as Philippine First Lady, in 1965.)

His lawyer, Juan Ponce Enrile, a son of his old friend and attorney, the Spanish mestizo Alfonso Ponce Enrile (father of Armida Siguion Reyna and Irma Potenciano), has since not been able to help him speak to President Marcos even when the latter was the designated Defense Minister.

), as he died broken hearted to see this daughter of his harassed and harangued by the Marcos government for being the woman Ninoy Aquino chose as his wife.

It is noted that Ninoy Aquino narrowly escaped death during the Plaza Miranda bombing in Quiapo Manila also on August 21, 1971 where he was scheduled to speak onstage together with Gerry Roxas, Jovito Salonga, Eva Estrada Kalaw, Ramon Bagatsing, and Eddie Ilarde.

Hacienda Luisita's ownership is currently being questioned in the media due to proviso verbiage in the sale indicating a land redistribution.

Meanwhile, the Antonio Cojuangco branch lost the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company through a sale brokered by President Joseph Ejercito Estrada.