He was Aquino's family told a news conference that he died in his sleep early Thursday due to "renal failure secondary to diabetes. Philippine flags were lowered at half-staff on government buildings.
He will be deeply missed," Sen. Imee Marcos, a daughter of the late dictator, said in a statement, using Aquino's nickname. Biden called Aquino a "valued friend and partner to the United States" and said he enjoyed their time working together. Aquino, who served as president from to , was the heir of a family that has been regarded as a bulwark against authoritarianism in the Philippines.
His father, former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. His mother, Corazon Aquino, led the "people power" revolt that ousted Marcos. The army-backed uprising became a harbinger of popular revolts against authoritarian regimes worldwide. A scion of a wealthy land-owning political clan in the northern Philippines, Aquino, who was fondly called Noynoy or Pnoy by many Filipinos, built an image of an incorruptible politician who battled poverty and frowned over excesses by the country's elites, including powerful politicians.
One of his first orders that lingered throughout his presidency was to ban the use of sirens in vehicles that carried VIPs through Manila's notorious traffic jams. Aquino, whose family went into exile in the U. After China seized a disputed shoal in following a tense standoff in the South China Sea, Aquino authorized the filing of a complaint before an international arbitration tribunal that questioned the validity of China's sweeping claims in the strategic waterway Beijing claims virtually the entire South China Sea on historical grounds.
The Philippines largely won. But China refused to join in the arbitration and dismissed as a sham the tribunal's ruling, which invalidated Beijing's claims based on a U. Aquino's legal challenge and the eventual ruling plunged the relations between Beijing and Manila to an all-time low.
Born in as the third of five children, Aquino never married and had no children. But he also played down the expectations heaped on him, warning that a president would have to be "Superman and Einstein combined" to solve the country's problems immediately.
Months after taking office, Aquino suffered his first crisis, when a former policeman held a bus filled with Hong Kong tourists hostage in central Manila. The incident was broadcast live around the world, and ended badly with the hijacker killing eight hostages before he was shot dead by police.
Aquino's government was heavily criticised for its handling of the siege. Aquino has been credited with pushing through key economic reforms and for his attempts to root out corruption, though critics have said he did not do enough to help the poor. In December , Aquino signed the controversial Reproductive Health Bill into law, which had languished for years in Congress before it was passed by lawmakers.
The law provided universal access to contraception, fertility control, sexual education and maternal care. Though it was met with fierce criticism in the Philippines, which has a majority Catholic population, experts said the law helped women and managed population growth.
With Aquino as the chief architect of Philippine foreign policy, the country filed its arbitration case against China over claims in the South China Sea in In July , the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favour of the Philippines, invalidating China's territorial claims. Beijing rejected the verdict, but the move won Aquino popular support with Filipinos. Rather than move forward we have moved backward. The killings have increased, the economy has taken a turn for the worse and the human rights situation has deteriorated.
During the martial law period, the Supreme Court heard petitions for habeas corpus. It is most ironic after martial law has allegedly been lifted, that the Supreme Court last April ruled it can longer entertain petitions for habeas corpus for persons detained under a Presidential Commitment Order, which covers all so-called national security cases and which under present circumstances can cover almost anything. The country is far advanced in her times of trouble. Economic, social and political problems bedevil the Filipino.
These problems may be surmounted if we are united. But we can be united only if all the rights and freedoms enjoyed before September 21, are fully restored. The Filipino asked for nothing more, but will surely accept nothing less, than all the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution — the most sacred legacies from the founding fathers. Yes, the Filipino is patient, but there is a limit to his patience. Must we wait until that patience snaps? The nationwide rebellion is escalating and threatens to explode into a bloody revolution.
There is a growing cadre of young Filipinos who have finally come to realize that freedom is never granted, it is taken. Must we relive the agonies and the bloodletting of the past that brought forth our republic or can we sit down as brothers and sisters and discuss our differences with reason and goodwill?
I have often wondered how many disputes could have been settled easily had the disputants only dared to define their terms. So as to leave no room for misunderstanding, I shall define my terms:.
Yet poverty in the nation remained endemic, and Aquino was heavily criticised for his slow response to the typhoon Haiyan , which killed more than 6, Filipinos. Two years later, his administration came under further attack after a botched police operation to capture Muslim rebels left 44 officers dead. He was criticised for reportedly playing video games during a hostage crisis in , an allegation he denied.
A former police officer hijacked a bus in central Manila, and eight tourists and the hijacker were killed during a failed security rescue.
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