Benigno Aquino, Sr.

Benigno Simeon Aquino, Sr.^[2][3][4][5] (September 3, 1894 – December 20, 1947), also known as Benigno S. Aquino or Benigno S. Aquino, Sr., was a Filipino politician who served as Speaker of the Second Philippine Republic National Assembly from 1943 to 1944.

His grandson Benigno Aquino III is the current President of the Philippines.

Early life

Aquino was born in Murcia, now part of Concepcion, Tarlac 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, namely Gonzalo Aquino (born 1893) and Amando Aquino (born 1896), and a half-brother, Herminio Aquino (born 1949). He studied at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila and later at the University of Santo Tomas where he earned his law degree in 1913 and was admitted to the bar the following year.

Personal life

1st 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, namely, Antonio Aquino (born 1917, died 1993), Servillano Aquino II (born 1919, died 1973), Milagros Aquino (born 1924, died 2001), and Erlinda Aquino.

2nd marriage

After Maria died in March 1928, he married Aurora Aquino (maiden name), his third cousin, on December 6, 1930, with whom he had the following children—Maria Aurora (Maur), Benigno Simeon, Jr. (Ninoy), Maria Gerarda (Ditas), Maria Guadalupe (Lupita), Agapito (Butz), Paul, and Maria Teresa (Tessie).^[6]

Political career

Benigno "Igno" Aquino was first elected to the Philippine Legislature (as a member of the Philippine Assembly) in 1919 representing the 2nd District of Tarlac. He was reelected to the same position in 1922 and 1925 before winning a Senate seat in 1928 representing the 3rd Senatorial District comprising the provinces of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and his home-province of Tarlac. 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 Philippine Commonwealth government in 1935 he ran again in his district in Tarlac and won. In 1937, he was appointed by Commonwealth Pres. Manuel L. Quezon as Secretary of Agriculture.

Speaker of the National Assembly

Being among the more prominent Commonwealth officials left after the Commonwealth government went into exile in 1941, Aquino were among those recruited by the Japanese to form a government. Aquino became the director-general of KALIBAPI 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 National Assembly.

Arrest and collaboration charges

In December 1944, as the American forces continued their advance to liberate the Philippines from Japanese forces, the government of the Second Philippine Republic was moved to Baguio which included Aquino before they flew to Japan where together with other officials they were arrested and imprisoned at the Sugamo Prison when the Japanese surrendered. On August 25, 1946, Aquino was flown back to the Philippines for his trial on treason charges by the People's Court, a few weeks later he was released on bail.

On December 20, 1947 he died of heart attack at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila while watching a boxing match.

Ancestry

See also

• Second Philippine Republic
• National Assembly of the Second Philippine Republic
• Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives
• Legislative districts of Tarlac

References

External links

• Benigno Aquino, Sr.. Accessed on April 24, 2007.
• Allied Families: Aquino-Cojuangco. Accessed on April 25, 2007.
• Sugar and the Origins of Modern Philippine Society. Accessed on April 25, 2007.