Benigno Aquino, Sr.

Infobox Officeholder
honorific-prefix =
name = Benigno Q. Aquino


honorific-suffix =
imagesize = 150px
small

caption =
order = 6th
office = Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives
term_start = September 25, 1943
term_end = February 2, 1944
predecessor = Jose Yulo
successor = Jose Zulueta
order2 =
office2 = Assemblyman of Tarlac
term_start2 = September 25, 1943
term_end2 = February 2, 1944
order3 =
office3 = Senator of the Philippines
term_start3 = 1928
term_end3 = 1934
order4 =
office4 = Assemblyman, 2nd District of Tarlac
term_start4 = December 30, 1935
term_end4 = December 30, 1938
order5 =
office5 = Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce
term_start5 = 1938
term_end5 = 1941
order6 =
office6 = Senator of the Philippines
term_start6 = 1919
term_end6 = 1928
order7 =
office7 = Representative, 2nd District of Province of Tarlac
term_start7 = 1928
term_end7 = 1934
birth_date = September 3, 1894
birth_place = Mucia, Tarlac, Philippines (now Concepcion, Tarlac)
death_date = Death date and age|1947|12|20|1894|09|03
death_place = Rizal Memorial Coliseum, Manila, Philippines
nationality = Filipino
party = Partido Nacionalista Consolidato, KALIBAPI
spouse = Maria Urquico*
Aurora Aquino
relations =
children =
residence = Mucia, Tarlac
alma_mater = University of Santo Tomas
Colegio de San Juan de Letran
occupation = Farmer, Politician
profession = Lawyer, Civil Servant
religion = Roman Catholic


website =
footnotes = * After Maria Urquico died, Aquino married Aurora Aquino

Benigno Quiambao Aquino (September 3, 1894 – December 20, 1947), or Benigno Aquino, Sr., was a Filipino politician who served as Speaker of the Second Philippine Republic National Assembly from 1943 to 1944.

Personal life

He 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 (born 1893) and Amando (born 1896), and a half-brother, Herminio (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. 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 (born 1917), Servillano, Milagros, and Erlinda. After Maria died in March 1928, he married Aurora Aquino [ [http://www.newsbreak.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=88889058 ...maiden name is Aurora Aquino, not Aurora Servillano...] ] (maiden name), his third cousin and 16 years his junior, on December 6, 1930 with whom he had the following children — Maria Aurora (Maur), Benigno Servillano, Jr. (Ninoy), Maria Gerarda (Ditas), Maria Guadalupe (Lupita), Agapito (Butz), Paul, and Maria Teresa (Tessie) [ [http://viewsfromthepampang.blogspot.com/2008/02/73-other-benigno.html Views from the Pampang: The other Benigno] ]

Political career

Benigno "Igno" Aquino was first elected to the Philippine Legislature 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 Quezon as Secretary of Agriculture.

Japanese occupation

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.

See also

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

References

* [http://www.geocities.com/sinupan/aquuinob.htm Benigno Q. Aquino, Sr.] . "Accessed on April 24, 2007."
* [http://paniqui_embry.tripod.com/alliedfam/aqwg13.htm Allied Families: Aquino-Cojuangco] . "Accessed on April 25, 2007."
* [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft4580066d&chunk.id=nsd0e7015&toc.id=endnotes&brand=eschol Sugar and the Origins of Modern Philippine Society] . "Accessed on April 25, 2007."