Former Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has died.

The son of pro-democracy icons who helped topple dictator Ferdinand Marcos and had troublesome ties with China was 61.

Aquino was president from 2010 to 2016 and the heir to a political legacy of a family that has been regarded as a bulwark against authoritarianism in the Philippines.

His father was assassinated in 1983 while under military custody and his mother led the 1986 “people power” revolt that ousted Marcos.

Public expectations and approval of Aquino’s presidency were high, but the rise of his successor, the brash Rodrigo Duterte, was a reality check on the perceived failures during the reformist Aquino’s watch.