Benigno Aquino III

Aquino was a fourth-generation politician: his great-grandfather, Servillano "Mianong" Aquino, served as a delegate to the Malolos Congress; his paternal grandfather, Benigno Aquino Sr., served as Speaker of the National Assembly from 1943 to 1944; his maternal grandfather, José Cojuangco, was also a member of the House of Representatives; and his parents were Corazon Aquino, who served as the 11th president of the Philippines (1986–1992), and Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.

Aquino was a member of the Liberal Party, where he held various positions such as secretary general and vice president for Luzon.

Benigno Simeon Aquino III (born Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known as Noynoy Aquino and colloquially as PNoy, was a Filipino politician who served as the 15th President of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016.

Noynoy Aquino was born as Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III on February 8, 1960, at Far Eastern University Hospital in Sampaloc, Manila.

He is the third of the five children of Benigno Aquino Jr., who was then the vice governor of Tarlac, and Corazon Cojuangco, daughter of prominent Tarlac businessman José Cojuangco.

He has four sisters, namely: Maria Elena, Aurora Corazon, Victoria Elisa, and actress Kristina Bernadette.

He attended the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City for his elementary, high school, and college education.

In September 1972, his father, a senator and prominent opposition leader to President Ferdinand Marcos, was arrested for subversion.

In August 1973, Aquino's father was brought before a military tribunal in Fort Bonifacio.

In 1980, after a series of heart attacks, Aquino's father was allowed to seek medical treatment in the United States, where Aquino's family began a period of self-exile in Boston.

Aquino finished his Bachelor of Arts (major in economics) degree from the Ateneo in 1981.

Former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, his eventual predecessor, was one of his professors at the university.

After graduating, Aquino joined his family there in 1981.

In 1983, after three years in exile in the United States, Aquino's family returned to the Philippines, shortly after the assassination of his father on August 21, 1983.

He had a short tenure as a member of the Philippine Business for Social Progress, working as an assistant of the executive director.

He later joined Mondragon Industries Philippines, Inc. as an assistant retail sales supervisor and Nike Philippines as an assistant promotions manager.

From 1986 to 1992, during the presidency of his mother, Aquino joined the Intra-Strata Assurance Corporation, a company owned by his uncle Antolin Oreta Jr., as vice president.

On August 28, 1987, eighteen months into the presidency of Aquino's mother, rebel soldiers led by Gregorio Honasan staged an unsuccessful coup attempt, attempting to lay siege to Malacañang Palace.

Aquino was two blocks from the palace when he came under fire.

Three of Aquino's four security escorts were killed, and the last was wounded protecting him.

He himself was hit by five bullets, once in the neck.

From 1993 to 1998, he worked for Central Azucarera de Tarlac, the sugar refinery in the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita.

He was employed as the executive assistant for administration from 1993 to 1996 and subsequently worked as manager for field services from 1996 to 1998.

Benigno Aquino III previously served as a member of the House of Representatives and Senate from 1998 to 2010, and also as a deputy speaker of the House of Representatives from 2004 to 2006.

Aquino became a deputy speaker of the House of Representatives on November 8, 2004, but relinquished the post on February 21, 2006, when Aquino joined his Liberal Party Drilon wing members in calling for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at the height of the Hello Garci scandal.

Aquino was also Chairman of the Board of the Central Luzon Congressional Caucus.

Barred from running for re-election to the House of Representatives of the Philippines, to represent the 2nd district of Tarlac, due to term limits, Aquino was elected to the Senate of the Philippines in the 2007 Philippine midterm election on May 15, 2007, under the banner of the Genuine Opposition (GO), a coalition comprising a number of parties, including Aquino's own Liberal Party, seeking to curb attempts by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to amend the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

In Aquino's political ads, he was endorsed by his younger sister, television host Kris Aquino, and his mother, Corazon Aquino.

Although a Roman Catholic, Aquino was endorsed by the pentecostal Jesus Is Lord Church, one of the largest Protestant churches in the Philippines.

With more than 14.3 million votes, Aquino's tally was the sixth highest of the 37 candidates for the 12 vacant seats elected from the nation at large.

Aquino assumed his new office on June 30, 2007.

During the campaign, Aquino reached out to his former political rival, Senator Gregorio Honasan, supporting his application for bail.

On September 9, 2009, shortly after the death of his mother, he announced his candidacy in the 2010 presidential election, which he eventually won.

He was sworn into office as the 15th president of the Philippines on June 30, 2010, succeeding Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Under Aquino's presidency, the nation's economy grew at the highest rates in decades, and the country was dubbed a "Rising Tiger" economy.

Known for his confrontational foreign policy, his administration filed an arbitration case, Philippines v. China, before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in an attempt to invalidate China's claims in the South China Sea and assert the Philippines' claims in the area; the court ruled in favor of the Philippines.

The son of assassinated politician Benigno Aquino Jr. and 11th President of the Philippines Corazon Aquino, he was a fourth-generation politician as part of the Aquino family of Tarlac.

His term ended on June 30, 2016, and he was succeeded by Rodrigo Duterte.

After leaving office, Aquino was the subject of legal actions over his role in the Mamasapano clash and for approval of a controversial budget project; he was later acquitted of all charges filed against him regarding the Mamasapano incident.

Aquino died from diabetic kidney disease on June 24, 2021, at age 61.