Aquino, Philippine ex-leader who challenged China, is buried

Former Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has been buried

MANILA, Philippines -- Former Philippine President Benigno Aquino III was buried Saturday with thousands lining up streets to remember him for standing up to China in bitter territorial disputes, striking a peace deal with Muslim guerrillas and defending democracy in a Southeast Asian nation where his parents helped topple a dictator. Aquino died Thursday at age 61 of kidney disease arising from diabetes following a long public absence, after his single, six-year term ended in 2016. Family and friends sang a patriotic song after a silver urn with Aquino's remains was placed beside the tomb of his mother, former President Corazon Aquino. Military honors included a 21-gun salute at a private cemetery in Manila. Aquino’s family did not want him or his parents buried at the national Heroes’ Cemetery, where past presidents and top officials had been laid to rest, including dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Aquino’s mother and his assassinated father, an anti-Marcos opposition senator, helped lead a resistance that sparked a 1986 army-backed “people power” revolt, which ousted Marcos. “In his journey beyond, his two heroic parents will be there to embrace him,” Archbishop Socrates Villegas said during Mass.