ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS
2006 National Newspaper of the Year 2011 National Newspaper of the Year 2013 Business Newspaper of the Year 2017 Business Newspaper of the Year 2019 Business Newspaper of the Year
BusinessMirror
www.businessmirror.com.ph
A broader look at today’s business n
Saturday, June 26, 2021 Vol. 16 No. 255
EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS
BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR (2017, 2018)
DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS
PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY
DATA CHAMPION
P25.00 nationwide | 16 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
IN this June 30, 2010, file photo, then new President Benigno Aquino III speaks beside a portrait of his late mother, former President Corazon Aquino, at the presidential palace in Manila. Aquino, the son of pro-democracy icons who helped topple dictator Ferdinand Marcos and had troublesome ties with China, died Thursday, June 24, 2021, a cousin and public officials said. He was 61. AP/ROLEX DELA PEÑA
Noynoy’ y y s Way The other side of the 15th President of the Republic is revealed by some of those who experienced working with him up close and personal.
B
By Joel C. Paredes
ENIGNO S. Aquino III, who was fondly called Noynoy by almost everyone, had been known to be a good son to his illustrious parents. But the late President had also proven that he was his own man in the six years he carried the crushing burden of office as President. All this, while striving always to stick to a principled life. Cynics might disagree. After all, bashers have desperately tried to belittle his political acumen, describing him as “Abnoy” or abnormal, even if he had won by a landslide in almost all of his political campaigns, including the presidency, and made remarkable achievements during his six years at the helm of a government anchored on a fragile democracy. The put-down was hardly surprising, since his mother, the late President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, was tagged as a “mere housewife,” but she finally united the fragmented political opposi-
tion, setting off a series of events culminating in the “people power” revolution that ousted the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and brought her to Malacañang in 1986. The Aquinos were favorite targets of political bashers, given their huge influence spanning many decades. In 1983 political tragedy struck the family when their patriarch, opposition leader Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., was gunned down on his return from a threeyear US exile. It fell to Noynoy, as the only son and namesake, to
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.8380
trust as he campaigned for the presidency in 2010. Noynoy, Caparas recalled, was always unpredictable in his activities, and was fond of meeting ordinary people outside of his official itinerary during his provincial visits. His former boss would then
immediately raise with his Cabinet the issues he had picked up in these encounters with the common folk. Caparas also noted how seriously Noynoy walked the talk in sticking to his inauguration vow Continued on A2
THE cremated remains of the late former President Benigno S. Aquino III are brought to the Church of the Gesu at the Ateneo de Manila University campus in Loyola Heights, Quezon City, Friday, June 25. The alma mater of the late chief executive is hosting the public viewing of his remains. Aquino finished his elementary, high school and college education at Ateneo and is arguably the prestigious educational institution’s most famous alumnus. NONOY LACZA
keep his mother close company in the six years she subsequently became President, fighting off coup attempts while overseeing a democratic and economic restoration. Like his late mother, Noynoy had valued political decency by showing no interest in continuing political power after the end of his presidency. His former senior military aide, retired Army Gen. Jose Caparas Jr., lamented that his bashers didn’t know—or simply refuse
to acknowledge—Noynoy’s principled stance in life. “He was so down to earth,” noted Caparas, who had known the Aquinos since 1990 when he was designated tank commander in Malacañang of the Presidential Security Group amid continued coup threats. Caparas said he was not particularly close to Noynoy; that was, until he was tapped to be his close chief-in security when the family was looking for someone they can
n JAPAN 0.4406 n UK 67.9971 n HK 6.2909 n CHINA 7.5458 n SINGAPORE 36.3703 n AUSTRALIA 37.0290 n EU 58.2686 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.0231
Source: BSP (June 25, 2021)