Born: November 27, 1932

Tarlac Province, Luzon, Philippines

Died: August 21, 1983
Manila, Philippines
Filipino politician
Benigno Aquino of the Philippines was a leading opponent of the rule
of President Ferdinand Marcos (19171989), who governed the
Philippines from 1966 to 1986. Aquino's opposition ended in August
1983 when, after living in the United States for three years, he returned
to the Philippine capital of Manila and was assassinated (killed) at the
airport. Aquino's death touched off massive demonstrations
against President Marcos.

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 He was the son of Corazon Aquino, who served as president of
the Philippines (198692), and political leader Benigno Simeon
Aquino, Jr.themselves the children of politically connected
families. The elder Benigno, an opposition figure to
Pres. Ferdinand Marcos who was imprisoned when the younger
Benigno was a child, was released and allowed to go to
the United States in 1980. The following year the younger
Benigno, after graduating from Ateneo de Manila University with
a bachelors degree in economics, followed his family to Boston.
His father returned to the Philippines in 1983 intending to
challenge Marcos for the presidency but was assassinated
immediately on arrival. The family nevertheless returned to the
country soon afterward, and there the young Aquino worked for
companies including Philippine Business for Social Progress and
Nike Philippine
 He became vice president of his familys Best Security
Agency Corporation in 1986, the same year that his mother
was named president of the Philippines after her
opposition party successfully charged incumbent President
Marcos with voting fraud. Aquino left the company in 1993
to work for another family-owned business, a sugar
refinery. Finally, in 1998, he made the move to politics as a
member of the Liberal Party, serving
the constitutional maximum of three consecutive terms as
a representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac province.
During this time he also served as deputy speaker of the
House of Representatives (200406), but he resigned from
the post in advance of joining other Liberal Party leaders in
making a call for the resignation of Pres. Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo (200110), who was accused of corrupt dealings
including the rigging of the 2004 presidential election.
From 2006 Aquino served as vice-chairman of the Liberal
Party, and in 2007, at the end of his final term in the House
of Representatives, he made a successful bid for a Senate seat.
 In September 2009 Aquino announced his candidacy
in the 2010 presidential race. His mother, to many a
symbol of democratic rule in the Philippines, had died
the previous month, an event that heightened Aquinos
profile and served as a catalyst for his seeking higher
office. Though his opponents for the presidency
included such seasoned politicians as Joseph Estrada,
who had previously served as president of the
Philippines (19982001), Aquino was considered the
front-runner from the time that he entered the race. In
the elections held on May 10, Aquino won the
presidency by a wide margin.
 Aquinos chief domestic accomplishment was the conclusion of a peace
agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in October 2012. The
deal promised a significant amount of autonomy to a Muslim-majority region
of southern Mindinao and seemingly concluded four decades of deadly
conflict. Economic growth in the Philippines was strong during Aquinos
administration, but unemployment remained high, and opposition politicians
argued that the benefits chiefly accrued to the countrys elite. Aquino also
faced criticism over his governments slow response to Super Typhoon Haiyan,
which killed some 8,000 people and displaced more than 800,000 when it hit
the Philippines in November 2013. The most significant foreign policy issue of
Aquinos term in office was Chinas increasingly assertive posture in the South
China Sea. The Philippines sought a judgment from the Permanent Court of
Arbitration at The Hague to clarify the ownership of a reef that was claimed by
China despite the fact that it lay within Philippine territorial waters. Although
the court later ruled that China had no claim to the reef and that Chinas
actions had constituted a violation of the Philippines sovereignty, China
dismissed the decision. Limited to a single six-year term, Aquino supported
Manuel (Mar) Roxas to succeed him in 2016. Roxas, the grandson of
Pres. Manuel Roxas, represented the mainstream political establishment at a
time when voters were clearly frustrated with the status quo, and he finished a
distant second to inflammatory populist Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte succeeded
Aquino as president on June 30, 2016.
To Ms. Aprilyn Limosnero