Charismatic Aquino scion dies; traced roots in China
MANILA – President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III passed on this morning. Most people who received the breaking news on social media platforms started asking if it was one of the fake pieces of information that has been common in the Philippines.
Even members of the clergy attending the installation of Manila’s 33rd Archbishop Jose Fuerte Cardinal Advincula were seen asking one another if the information was indeed true.
It was later confirmed by sources close to the family. This afternoon, a statement read by his sister Pinky Aquino-Abellada expressed deep sorrow and uncertainty how long it would take for them to accept the grim reality of his passing.
“No words can express how broken our hearts are and how long it will take for us to accept the reality that he is gone,” Ms. Aquino-Abellada said with her youngest sister Kris Aquino beside her.
She added her brother Noynoy’s mission has been accomplished and it is time for the late president to join their parents former Senator Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. and former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. It will be recalled then President Noynoy visited his ancestral roots in Hongjian, Xiamen during his State Visit to China where he met with then President Hu Jintao in 2011.
President “Noynoy” also lit incense before the pictures of his departed ancestors.
President Corazon Aquino visited Hongjian in 1988 where she planted araucaria tree.
President Aquino during his term from 2010-2016 will be remembered for his one-liners such as “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” which simply meant if there’s no corruption, there won’t be poor people. He also said the people is his boss and there’s no reason for him not to listen to the people.
It has been noted during his inaugural address in June 30,2010 that he had a simple goal in life, “to be true to his parents and country as a worthy and honorable son, a caring brother and a good citizen.”
When his term ended in June 30,2016 and President Rodrigo Duterte’s term began, he has kept mum and has not responded to the tirades and unsavory comments from the incumbent chief executive.
He is remembered for his first State of the Nation Address where he said it is everybody’s responsibility to focus attention on the president whom the people elected to office. He added it should not end with criticism but with participation.
It will be recalled his mother Corazon was nominated to the presidency in 1985 when her husband Benigno, a prominent Opposition leader to then President Ferdinand E. Marcos, was felled by an assassin upon his return to Manila in August 21,1983. Mrs. Aquino assumed the presidency after the February 7,1986 snap presidential elections. Then strongman Ferdinand Marcos fled to Hawaii, USA aboard an American helicopter to Clark Air Base and an American military plane out of the Philippines.
In August 2009, former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino passed on and the popular Aquino clan catapulted then Senator Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III to the presidential race.
And the rest is history. (Melo M. Acuña)
President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III. (Screen grab from FOCAP Presidential Forum in 2015)