Some former employees and current government officials are mourning the passing of former President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III, who served as the 15th president before President Rodrigo Duterte.
This Thursday, Aquino’s death, who was reportedly undergoing angioplasty and undergoing dialysis, was announced. He is also said to have diabetes and lung cancer. However, his family’s statement on the real cause of death is still awaited.
“He was 100 lbs, taking dialysis 3x a week. Waiting for a kidney transplant,” Aquino’s political affairs adviser Ronald Llamas said in an interview with ONE News earlier.
Such a weight is extremely underweight for his stature and age as a man.
Aquino often coughed in his speeches even when he was president, which led to speculations about the state of his health. In his 2015 State of the Nation Address, he will be remembered for coughing seven times. Noynoy is known to be a smoker.
In 2019, Noynoy was admitted to Makati Medical Center due to unspecified reasons. But, her spokeswoman Abigail Valte said, “scheduled check-up, and it’s just a “routine procedure”.
Aquino ‘only 100 pounds’ before dying, waiting for transplant – former adviser
Before his death, Aquino was chairperson emeritus of the Liberal Party. Although his parents are “democracy icons,” the state leader is known to have corruption issues associated with the unconstitutional Disbursement Acceleration Program. His name is also attached to the arrest and death of several activists under his Oplan Bayanihan counter-insurgency program.
Meanwhile, it will be recalled that the Philippines won jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea against China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration after Aquino filed a lawsuit in 2016.
Although their families are rivals, Sen. Imee Marcos extended her condolences on the death of the former president.
“My heartfelt condolences to the family of former President Benigno C. Aquino III, a ‘classmate’ in Congress from 1998 to 2007. I will always treasure the memories of our long years together as freshmen legislators and members of a tiny opposition,” said Marcos.
“For beyond politics and much public acrimony, I knew Noynoy as a kind and simple soul. He will be deeply missed.”
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