Cojuangco was born on June 10, 1935, the first-born child of Eduardo Chichioco Cojuangco and Josephine B. Murphy. He completed his high school education at De La Salle College. He attended UP Los Baños and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

The stated intent of the plan, spearheaded by Cojuangco, was to develop the Philippine coconut industry. But the amount, consolidated in the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), was alleged to have instead been channelled to the private financial interests of the Marcos family and their close associates. The government alleged Cojuangco to have used the coconut levy funds to gain control of a 72.2% stake in United Coconut Planters Bank in 1975; and a total stake of about 47% San Miguel Corporation in 1983, in two blocks of about 20% and 27%, respectively. The coco funds were also used to acquire six oil mills. In 1975, funds from the levy were used by the government to acquire a 72.2% stake in United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB, then still known as First United Bank).

In November of the same year, the court ruled that a 72.2% stake in UCPB was owned by the state, because they were bought using coco levy funds. This included a 7.22% stake registered under Cojuangco, which he claimed had been his compensation for brokering the bank’s purchase in 1975, and the sale of the remaining 64.98% stake in UCPB to the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA)

In 1983, Cojuangco acquired a 20% stake in San Miguel Corporation, which the Presidential Commission on Good Government later said he did using the windfalls from the coconut levy fund and United Coconut Planters Bank. Another 27% was placed under the name of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund Oil Mills Group (CIIF), funded through the coco levy. In 1986, all of these assets were sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government after the Marcos Administration had been ousted. In April 2011, the Philippines’ Supreme court affirmed Cojuangco to be the owner of the 20% shares in SMC (reduced to about 17% by then because of SMC’s expansion since 1983) which he had purchased through the loan from UCPB.

When Ferdinand Marcos was ousted by the People Power revolution in February 1986, Cojuangco was flown out of the country and into exile along with the Marcos family and Fabian Ver, departing in the early morning of February 25, 1986. Cojuangco was allowed to return in 1989, having spent most of his exile breeding and racing horses in Australia.

In 1992, Cojuangco founded the Nationalist People’s Coalition to serve as his vehicle to further his aspirations in the 1992 presidential elections. He was a candidate for the Philippine presidency in 1992, ultimately losing in a tight election to Fidel V. Ramos. Ramos received 23.6% of the vote. Miriam Defensor Santiago came in second with 19.7% and Cojuangco came in third with 18.2%.

He further tested the political waters in 2003, intending to run in the 2004 presidential election, but soon withdrew. He eventually became chairman emeritus of the NPC, wielding influence that earned him a reputation as a “kingmaker” in Phillippine politics.

In September 2012, the Supreme court affirmed that the 27% block of San Miguel Corporation shares under the name of the CIIF – reduced to 24% because of SMC’s expansion since 1983 – were government-owned. The court also ruled that the funds from these shares could only be used by government for the benefit of the coconut farmers. Later that year, San Miguel Corporation bought back the government’s stake for P57.6 billion, ending a 26-year period in which the Philippine government was a major voting block in the corporation.

He was married to Soledad “Gretchen” Oppen of Negros Occidental. They had four children: Margarita “Tina” Cojuangco Barrera, Luisa “Lisa” Cojuangco-Cruz, Carlos “Charlie” Cojuangco and Marcos “Mark” Cojuangco. Although later separated, the couple remained legally married even after The Philippine Star reported in March 2018 that Cojuangco was living with 1996 Binibining Pilipinas Universe winner Aileen Damiles and their two daughters,.

Cojuangco died on June 16, 2020 of heart failure and pneumonia at the St. Luke’s Medical Center – Global City, six days after his 85th birthday.