Benigno Simeon "Igno" Quiambao Aquino Sr. (born Benigno Simeón Aquino y Quiambao; September 3, 1894 – December 20, 1947) was a Filipino politician who served as

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

of the Japanese-sponsored puppet state in the Philippines from 1943 to 1944. He was the Director-General of

KALIBAPI The Kapisanan ng Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas (''Association for Service to the New Philippines''), or KALIBAPI, was a fascist Filipino political party that served as the sole party of state during the Japanese occupation. It was intended t ...

, a political party established during the

Japanese occupation of the Philippines The Japanese occupation of the Philippines ( Filipino: ''Pananakop ng mga Japones sa Filipinas''; ja, 日本のフィリピン占領, Nihon no Firipin Senryō) occurred between 1942 and 1945, when Imperial Japan occupied the Commonwealth of t ...

. His grandson,

Benigno S. Aquino III Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III (; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known as Noynoy Aquino and colloquially as PNoy, was a Filipino politician who served as the 15th president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016. The son of ...

was the 15th

President of the Philippines The president of the Philippines ( fil, Pangulo ng Pilipinas, sometimes referred to as ''Presidente ng Pilipinas'') is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of ...

from 2010 to 2016.

Early life

Aquino was born in Murcia (now part of

Concepcion, Tarlac Concepcion, officially the Municipality of Concepcion ( pam, Balen ning Concepcion; fil, Bayan ng Concepcion), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Tarlac, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 169,953 peop ...

) in the town of

Tarlac Tarlac, officially the Province of Tarlac ( pam, Lalawigan ning Tarlac; pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Tarlac; ilo, Probinsia ti Tarlac; tgl, Lalawigan ng Tarlac; ), is a landlocked province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. It ...

to Servillano "Mianong" Aquino, a general in the Philippine Revolution who later served as a member of the Malolos Congress, and Guadalupe Quiambao. He had two siblings: Gonzalo Aquino (1893–??) and Amando Aquino (1896–??), and a half-brother,

Herminio Aquino Herminio Sanchez Aquino (April 25, 1949 – July 31, 2021), also known as Hermie Aquino, was a Filipino businessman, politician, and a vice presidential candidate who ran as the running mate of Raul Roco in 2004. Early life and education Aqui ...

(1949–2021). He studied at the

Colegio de San Juan de Letran The Colegio de San Juan de Letran, (transl: College of San Juan de Letran) also referred to by its acronym CSJL, is a private Catholic coeducational basic and higher education institution owned and run by the friars of the Order of Preachers i ...

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

and later at the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (also known as UST and officially as the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila) is a private, Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. Founded on April 28, 1611, by Spanish friar Migue ...

, where he earned his law degree in 1913, and was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar ( ...

the following year.

Political career

Aquino was first elected to the Philippine Legislature as a member of the Philippine House of Representatives in 1919 representing the 2nd district of

. He was reelected to the same position in

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

and 1925 before winning a Philippine Senate seat in

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhano ...

representing the 3rd Senatorial District comprising the

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan ( tl, Lalawigan ng Bulacan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on August 15, 1578, and part of the Me ...

Nueva Ecija Nueva Ecija, officially the Province of Nueva Ecija ( tgl, Lalawigan ng Nueva Ecija , also ; ilo, Probinsia ti Nueva Ecija; pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Nueva Ecija; Kapampangan: ''Lalawigan/Probinsia ning Nueva Ecija''), is a landlocked province ...

Pampanga Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga ( pam, Lalawigan ning Pampanga; tl, Lalawigan ng Pampanga ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac ...

and his home-province of

. He became part of the Philippine Independence Mission in 1931, which negotiated the terms of obtaining Philippine independence from the United States. During the elections for the

Commonwealth of the Philippines The Commonwealth of the Philippines ( es, Commonwealth de Filipinas or ; tl, Komonwelt ng Pilipinas) was the administrative body that governed the Philippines from 1935 to 1946, aside from a period of exile in the Second World War from 1942 ...

government in

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

he ran again in his district in Tarlac and won, this time as a member of the

. In 1937, he was appointed by Commonwealth

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Manuel L. Quezon as Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce.

Speaker of the National Assembly

Being among the more prominent Commonwealth officials remaining in the country after the Commonwealth government went into exile in 1941, Aquino was among those recruited by the Japanese to form a government. He became the director-general of

and one of the two assistant chairmen of the Preparatory Commission for Philippine Independence. When the Second Philippine Republic was inaugurated, he was elected Speaker of the

Arrest and collaboration charges

Philippine puppet government officials in Japan 1945

In December 1944, as the combined Filipino and American forces continued their advance to liberate the Philippines from Japanese forces, the government of the Second Philippine Republic, which included Aquino, was moved to

Baguio Baguio ( , ), officially the City of Baguio ( ilo, Siudad ti Baguio; fil, Lungsod ng Baguio), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", ...

. Subsequently, they travelled to

Tuguegarao Tuguegarao ( or ), officially the City of Tuguegarao ( ibg, Siyudad nat Tugegaraw; itv, Siyudad yo Tugegaraw; ilo, Siudad ti Tuguegarao; fil, Lungsod ng Tuguegarao ), is a 3rd class component city and capital of the province of Cagayan, Phili ...

, where they were flown to Japan via

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territori ...

(now

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

) and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. On September 15, 1945, while in

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

, Aquino, alongside former President Jose P. Laurel and his son Jose III, was arrested and placed into custody by Americans led by Colonel Turner following the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Na ...

. They were imprisoned at

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

prison and two months later at

Sugamo Prison Sugamo Prison (''Sugamo Kōchi-sho'', Kyūjitai: , Shinjitai: ) was a prison in Tokyo, Japan. It was located in the district of Ikebukuro, which is now part of the Toshima ward of Tokyo, Japan. History Sugamo Prison was originally built ...

. On July 23, 1946, they were flown back to the Philippines for trial on

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

charges by the People's Court. A few weeks later, he was released on bail.

Personal life

First marriage

In May 1916, he married Maria Urquico, the daughter of '' katipunero'' Antonio Urquico and Justa Valeriano. He had two sons and two daughters with Maria: Antonio Aquino “Tony” (1917–1993), Servillano Aquino II “Billy” (1919–1973), Milagros Aquino “Mila” (1924–2001), and Erlinda Aquino “Linda” (1926-2022).

Second marriage

After Maria died in March 1928, he married Aurora Lampa Aquino (maiden name, granddaughter of Melencio Aquino and Evarista de los Santos and daughter of Agapito de los Santos Aquino and Gerarda Miranda Lampa) on December 6, 1930, with whom he had seven children—Maria Aurora (Maur), Benigno Simeon Jr. (Ninoy), Maria Gerarda (Ditas), Maria Guadalupe (Lupita), Agapito (Butz), Paul, and Maria Teresa (Tessie).

Death

On December 20, 1947, Aquino died of a heart attack at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in

while watching a

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

match.

Ancestry

References

External links