Aquino laid to rest amid outpouring of grief and tributes
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Guards of Honour with the urn holding the ashes of former Philippine president Benigno Aquino during his burial at the Manila Memorial Park yesterday. Mr Aquino served as president from 2010 to 2016, leading the Philippines through a period of prosperity. He died on Thursday of kidney failure and diabetes at the age of 61.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Raul Dancel Philippines Correspondent In Manila , Raul Dancel
Former Philippine president Benigno Aquino III was laid to rest yesterday amid an outpouring of grief and tributes to a life marked by exile, his father's martyrdom, the rise of his mother to political prominence, and personal trials and victories as a public servant.
Mr Aquino died on Thursday of kidney failure and diabetes. He was 61. He was buried next to his parents, the revered democracy icons Benigno Aquino Jr and Corazon Aquino.
"He died as he lived. He served without fanfare. He abhorred power trappings and power trippings. He slipped away quietly and, as much as possible, disturbing no one," Archbishop Socrates Villegas, a close family friend, said in a homily during the funeral mass for Mr Aquino.
Mr Aquino served as president from 2010 to 2016. He led the Philippines through a period of prosperity. Under his watch, the country became South-east Asia's fastest-growing economy, with a growth rate of 6.2 per cent.
Its debt was upgraded from junk to investment grade and unemployment fell to a decade-low 6.8 per cent.
But his six-year term was also marred by what many saw as indecisive responses to crises and persistent allegations of cronyism.
That allowed Mr Rodrigo Duterte to snatch the presidency in 2016.
After he stepped down, Mr Aquino retreated from politics. He seldom came out in public to defend himself.
That allowed his critics and enemies, mostly supporters of Mr Duterte, to pile up not just against him, but also his political allies.
Vice-President Leni Robredo, who now heads Mr Aquino's political party, said in a Twitter post that the past five years "have been painful for us because we saw first-hand how wrongful accusations and disinformation were spewed to diminish his legacy".
Father Jose Ramon Villarin said Mr Aquino had told him about problems he was having with his failing heart.
But the real problem, said Father Villarin, was his disappointment at the "crudeness of violence" that blanketed the Philippines after he stepped down, alluding to Mr Duterte's drug war that has killed thousands.
Former Cabinet ministers and allies praised Mr Aquino for "aiming for the big things", as well as for his incorruptibility and calming stoicism in the face of adversities and personal traumas.
He only began to carve his own political path years after his mother stepped down in 1992.
Mr Aquino ran for a seat in the House of Representatives in 1998, and later served three terms till 2007. He was a senator in 2009 when, following his mother's death, he ran for president.
