Benigno Aquino III

Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Cojuangco Aquino III (locally [bɛˈniːɡ.no ʔɐˈkiː.no]; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known colloquially as PNoy, was the 15th president of the Philippines, serving from 2010 to 2016. A member of the Liberal Party, he was the son of assassinated politician Ninoy Aquino and 11th president Corazon Aquino, and a fourth-generation politician as part of the Aquino family of Tarlac.

Aquino served as a member of the House of Representatives and Senate from 1998 to 2010. During his tenure in the lower house, he served as a deputy speaker of the House of Representatives from 2004 to 2006. 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. After leaving office in 2016, 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.