SC, courts nationwide honor Noynoy

MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday ordered all flags in courthouses nationwide be flown at half-mast beginning Thursday in honor of former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

Aquino succumbed to renal failure secondary to diabetes at 6:30 a.m., according to his elder sister, Pinky Abellada.

He was 61.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra acknowledged the daunting tasks Aquino faced as President.

“Leading a country like the Philippines with enormous social, economic, and political challenges is a colossal task. Anyone who accepts this awesome responsibility, like the late president Benigno Aquino III, deserves our utmost respect, admiration, and gratitude,” he told reporters.

Guevarra served in the latter part of Aquino’s administration as Deputy Executive Secretary for legal affairs.

SC senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen also expressed “profound sadness” over Aquino’s death.

“I knew him to be a kind man, driven by his passion to serve our people, diligent in his duties, and with an avid and consuming curiosity about new knowledge and the world in general. I have learned a lot from him. I saw him carry his title with dignity and integrity,” Leonen said.

In July 2010, Aquino named Leonen as the government’s chief negotiator with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front before he was appointed to the SC in 2012.