Advertisement Former Philippine president Benigno Aquino III, a scion of pro-democracy leaders who helped topple dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the 1980s, and a staunch campaigner in his own right against domestic corruption and China’s expansive territorial claims, died on June 24 in a Manila hospital. He was 61. The cause was renal failure as a result of diabetes, his family said in a statement. Then newly inaugurated Philippine President Benigno Aquino III during his first day at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila, Philippines, 2010. Credit:AP Aquino, who was elected as the south-east Asian country’s 15th president in 2010, largely stayed out of the public eye after leaving office in 2016. (Philippine presidents are limited to a single six-year term.) He had spent the last years of his life in poor health, his family said.