Former Philippine President Benigno Aquino dies

Benigno Aquino III, the son of pro-democracy icons, died Thursday at a hospital in the capital city of Manila. Aquino’s family said he died of renal failure due to diabetes. He was undergoing dialysis and preparing for a kidney transplant, according to a former Cabinet official. Aquino was 61.

What was his legacy? Aquino’s father, former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., defied the rule of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and was assassinated in 1983. His mother, Corazon Aquino, led the 1986 revolt that eventually toppled Marcos. Widely known as “Noynoy,” Aquino served in the House and Senate and won election to the presidency by a landslide in 2010. He notably filed a complaint before an international arbitration tribunal questioning China’s claims in the South China Sea, which the Philippines won in 2016. In 2014, he reached a peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country’s largest Muslim separatist rebel group. But Aquino’s government faced criticism for its mishandling of a hostage situation that left eight Chinese tourists dead and Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. His tenure ended in 2016 when President Rodrigo Duterte succeeded him.

Dig deeper: Read Jamie Dean’s WORLD Magazine report on the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan.