Benigno Aquino IIIpresident of Philippines

Also known as

Noynoy Aquino

Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III

born
February 8, 1960
Manila, Philippines
Benigno Aquino III, in full Benigno Simeon Cojuangco
Aquino III, also called Noynoy (born Feb. 8,
1960, Manila, Philippines), Filipino politician who served
as president of the Philippines (2010 ) and was the scion
of a famed political family.
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 Philippines.
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