• Senator of the Phil.
• Presidential Adviser on Defense Affairs
• Mayor of Concepcion, Tarlac
• Vice-Governor of Tarlac
• Governor of Tarlac

      Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. was a former senator, governor and mayor of the Philippines. He was the leading oppositionist of the former president Ferdinand Marcos. On August 21, 1983, he was assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now named Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor).

      Ninoy Aquino was born as Benigno Servillano Aquino Jr in 1932 in Concepcion, Tarlac area of the Philippines. Aquino's political career included as the Presidential Adviser to Defense affairs from 1949 to 1954 when he assumed position of Mayor of Conception from December 1955 through 1959. He moved up the political chain as Vice Governor of Tarlac from 1959 through 1961 and became Governor in 1961. Ninoy remained in this position until 1967 which he was elected to the Senate. From 1967 until 1972 Ninoy Aquino was a Philippines Senator until his dispute with Marcos.

      Ninoy Aquino was a reporter during the Korean War. He became the Philippines youngest mayor at age 22. In 1967 he was the youngest Senator ever elected in the Philippines. In 1973 he was a candidate for the position of President to replace Ferdinand Marcos until Marcos declared Martial Law. Marcos had Aquino jailed on charges of murder, subversion, and illegal possession of firearms. Aquino was found guilty by Marcos' military tribunal and spent 7 years in jail. In 1980 he was allowed to go to the U.S. for a heart surgery. When Aquino attempted to return to the Philippines in 1983 he was assassinated as he got off the airplane.

NINOY AQUINO: Fight for Freedom

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      China Airlines Flight 811 touched down at what was then the Manila International Airport, amidst 2,000 military and police personnel on the tarmac. A man stepped out of the plane with an entourage of several foreign journalists for "protection" in case "something" happened, plus a hefty security escort following inches behind. In a matter of minutes, a gunshot was heard and the man dropped to the ground face down. He was Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., the man whom Jovito Salonga has referred to as "the greatest president we never had".

Read more about Sen."Ninoy" : http://iamninoy.com/aboutninoy.htm

• Pre-Presidency (1983 to 1986)
• Presidency (1986 to 1992)
• Post-Presidency (1992 to present)

      Maria Corazon "CORY" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino was born on January 25, 1933, the sixth of eight children born to Jose Cojoangco of Tarlac, a prosperous province 65 miles northwest of Manila, the Philippines capital. The Cojoangcos were members of a wealthy landowning family prominent in politics.

      Aquino attended an exclusive Catholic school for girls in Manila before travelling to America to attend Philadelphia's Raven Hill Academy. After earning a degree in French and mathematics from New York's Mount Saint Vincent College in 1953, she returned to the Philippines and enrolled in a Manila law school. While at law school she met her future husband, Benigno Aquino and married him in 1954. The marriage united two of Tarlac's most prominent families.

The Politician's Wife

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      Aquino's husband belonged to a family whose involvement in politics went as far back as the last century. One year after they were married, Aquino's husband was elected mayor of the city of Concepcion at the age of 22. Her husband was considered one of the Philippines' brightest political hopes.

      Moving up in politics, Aquino's husband became the youngest territorial governor and later the youngest senator in the Philippines. Through out all her husband's political successes, Aquino stayed in the background, preferring to concentrate her energies on raising their four daughters and a son.

      As her husband rose in prominence, he became an outspoken critic of the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos. When Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972, Aquino's husband was one of the first persons arrested and put in jail. During the long years of her husband's incarceration from 1972 to 1980, Aquino's role as a quiet wife slowly changed. Becoming her husband's main link to the outside world, she was instrumental in having his statements passed along to the press and to activists outside the prison walls. From inside his cell, Aquino's husband even ran for a seat in Parliament, with his wife conducting a large portion of the campaign.

      In 1980, Aquino's husband was released from jail in order to undergo heart surgery in the United States. Aquino's husband worked as a research fellow at Harvard University for the next three years. His family lived with him in the Boston area and his wife described the time as the best years of her life.

      In 1983 supporters of the anti-Marcos factions persuaded Aquino's husband to return to the Philippines and to lead their cause. When his plane landed on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983, Aquino's husband was assassinated. A commission formed to investigate the murder indicted the military men assigned to escort him as well as their military superiors. However, the court which eventually tried them for the murder acquitted all 26 defendants.

Read more about Pres."Cory" : http://www.coryaquino.ph/ca_website.htm

• Born: February 8, 1960 (age 50) Manila, Philippines
• Political party: Liberal Party
• Profession: Legislator

      Benigno Simeon "NOYNOY" Aquino III (born February 8, 1960) is a Senator of the Philippines and a candidate for President of the Philippines in the 2010 election, as the standard-bearer of the Liberal Party. He is the only son of former President Corazon Aquino and former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. A graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, he was seriously wounded by rebel soldiers in a failed coup attempt during his mother's presidency. In 1989, he was elected to the House of Representatives as Representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac province in the 11th Congress of the Philippines. In 2007, he was elected to the Senate of the 14th Congress of the Philippines.

Early life and education

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      Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Cojuangco Aquino III was born on February 8, 1960. He is the third of the of five children of Benigno Aquino, Jr., who was then Vice Governor of Tarlac province, and Corazon Aquino. He has three sisters, Maria Elena ("Ballsy"), Aurora Corazon ("Pinky"), Victoria Eliza ("Viel"), and Kristina Bernadette ("Kris").

      Aquino studied in Ateneo de Manila University for his elementary, high school, and college education, graduating in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. After college, he joined his family in Boston in exile.

      In 1983, shortly after the murder of his father, Noynoy had a short tenure as a member of the Philippine Business for Social Progress. From 1985 to 1986, he was retail sales supervisor and youth promotions assistant for Nike Philippines and later an assistant for advertising and promotion for Mondragon Philippines. In 1986, he joined Intra-Strata Assurance Corp. as vice-president of the family-owned corporation.

      On August 28, 1987, eighteen months into the presidency of Aquino's mother, rebel soldiers led by Gregorio Honasan staged an unsuccessful coup attempt, attempting to siege Malacañang Palace. Aquino was two blocks from the palace when he came under fire. Three of his four security escorts were killed, and the last was wounded protecting him. Aquino himself was hit by five bullets, one of which is still embedded in his neck.

      From 1986 to 1993, Aquino was vice president and treasurer for Best Security Agency Corporation, a firm owned by his uncle Antolin Oreta. He went to work for the Central Azucarera de Tarlac in 1993, the sugar refinery owned by the Cojuangco clan. He started out as an executive assistant for administration, before becoming field services manager in 1996.[citation needed]

Political life

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      Aquino is a leading member of the Liberal Party. He currently holds the position of Vice Chairman of the Liberal Party, having assumed the post on 17 March 2006. He was previously Secretary General of the party (1999-2002), Vice-President of the Luzon Liberal Party (2002-2004), and Secretary General of the party (2004-16 March 2006).

      Aquino is associated with a faction of the Liberal Party which opposes the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, citing alleged human rights violations.

Read more about Pres."Noynoy" : http://www.noynoy-aquino.com/about.htm