a scion of the country’s revered Aquino family, has died at the age of 61. While in power from 2010 to 2016, he famously took China to court over a long-running dispute involving the South China Sea, parts of which the Philippines claims because of the West battle of the Philippine Sea. Aquino had been largely silent and out of the general public eye after his presidency ended. On Thursday his sisters released a press release saying he had died peacefully in his sleep that morning thanks to renal disorder “secondary to diabetes”. Blue-blooded parentage Aquino was the sole son of his much-revered parents, the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr and former president Corazon Aquino. His nickname Noynoy was a tribute to his father’s own moniker – Ninoy. Ninoy Aquino’s dramatic assassination in 1983 electrified the country. He had been in exile within us, forced to escape the law of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. Determined to bring democracy to his country he flew back to Manila – only to be killed upon landing. Tens of thousands of individuals joined the outpouring of grief, fuelling a pro-democracy movement that President Marcos seasoned by calling a snap election in February 1986. Young Noynoy’s mother, Corazon “Cory” Aquino, became the standard-bearer of her husband’s legacy and vowed to hold on to her husband’s work. The Marcoses claimed victory – sparking the primary famous People Power revolution against them. A million folks that gathered on the streets felt they were risking their lives to avoid wasting democracy. Cory Aquino eventually became president, happening to survive several coup attempts – in a veryll|one amongst|one in every of} which resulted in young Noynoy almost being killed in a shoot-out at the presidential Malacanang Palace in 1987. One of the five bullets that hit him remained lodged in his neck for the remainder of his life. Political ascent Growing up within the shadow of such admired parents, with four sisters – one amongst whom, Kris, maybe a prominent TV personality – Noynoy, himself a bachelor, was often referred to as the quiet Aquino. He earned a degree in economics from the elite Ateneo University in Manila before joining his family after they were in exile in Boston. Following his return to the Philippines in 1983, he worked in various businesses and was elected to Congress in 1988. In 2007 he won a seat within the Senate. In 2009 his mother died of cancer and again, tens of thousands of Filipinos surged onto the streets to indicate their love for the Aquino family. After a landslide victory in 2010, he took charge of a rustic scuffling with widespread corruption, poverty, and aging infrastructure. But he also played down the expectations heaped on him, warning that a president would be “Superman and Einstein combined” to resolve the country’s problems immediately. Months after taking office, Aquino suffered his first crisis, when a former policeman held a bus stuffed with port 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 criticized for its handling of the siege. Aquino has been credited with pushing through key economic reforms and for his attempts to extirpate corruption, though critics have said he didn’t do enough to assist the poor. In December 2012, Aquino signed the controversial Reproductive Health Bill into law, which had languished for years in Congress before it absolutely was elapsed, lawmakers. The law provided universal access to contraception, fertility control, sexual education, and maternal care. Though it had been met with fierce criticism within the Philippines, which contains a majority Catholic population, experts said the law helped women and managed increment. With Aquino because the chief architect of Philippine policy, the country filed its arbitration case against China over claims within the South China Sea in 2013. In July 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the Philippines, invalidating China’s territorial claims. Beijing rejected the decision, but the move won Aquino popular support with Filipinos. Under the constitution, he was unable to square for an additional term in elections that year and was succeeded in office by the populist Rodrigo Duterte.