Benigno Aquino III began his presidency at noon on June 30, 2010, following his inauguration as the 15th president of the Philippines, succeeding Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Aquino, the third-youngest person elected president, is the only son of the 11th president, Corazon Aquino, and former senator Benigno Aquino Jr.

Aquino continued the process of implementing the K–12 curriculum in the country that started when the Omnibus Education Reform Act of 2008 (Senate Bill 2294) was filed on May 20, 2008 and emphasized later by ASEAN Charter on December 15, 2008 both during the presidency of his predecessor Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He enacted the Reproductive Health Bill, providing universal access to methods on contraception. He launched the public-private partnership program to hasten infrastructure development, and formed a commission to investigate issues and corruption allegations against his predecessor, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Aquino extended the modernization program of the military for 15 years. He signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, allowing the United States's military to rotate troops into the Philippines for extended stays and authorizing the US to build and operate facilities on Philippine bases.

Aquino oversaw the Manila hostage crisis, the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona, the Typhoon Yolanda government response, the Zamboanga City crisis, and the Mamasapano clash.

2010 presidential election

Aquino emerged as a potential candidate for the Philippine presidency in 2007 after placing sixth in the 2007 Philippine Senate election where he received 14,309,349 votes. Initially he was not the designated standard bearer for the presidential elections by his political party, the Liberal Party, which originally designated his ally, Sen. Manuel "Mar" Roxas, as its standard bearer on November 26, 2008.

Following the death of his mother, President Corazon Aquino, due to colorectal cancer on August 1, 2009, there was an outpouring of nostalgia among the public for the former democracy icon's brand of clean, honest, and selfless public service. Supporters of the Aquino family called on Noynoy to run for presidency, in what has been called "The Noynoy Phenomenon", to continue his mother's legacy. On August 27, 2009, Edgardo "Eddie" Roces, son of the late Chino Roces, former publisher and owner of the Manila Times, and a group of lawyers and activists formed the Noynoy Aquino for President Movement, a nationwide campaign to collect a million signatures to persuade Aquino to run for president.

Pivotal to Aquino's presidential candidacy was Roxas' announcement of his withdrawal from the presidential race and nomination of Aquino to be his party's presidential standard bearer on September 1, 2009; After much forethought, Aquino accepted the nomination shortly after, and on November 28, 2009, filed his candidacy for president under the Aquino–Roxas tandem.

In the May 2010 presidential elections, Aquino received 15,208,678 votes or 42.08% of the total votes cast, defeating rivals former Philippine president Joseph Estrada, Sen. Manuel Villar, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, television evangelist Eddie Villanueva and Sen. Richard Gordon. Roxas lost the vice presidential race to Estrada's running mate, Makati mayor Jejomar Binay of the PDP–Laban party.

Transition and inauguration

The presidential transition began on June 9, 2010, when the Congress of the Philippines proclaimed Aquino as the winner of the 2010 Philippine presidential elections held on May 10, 2010, proclaiming Aquino as the president-elect of the Philippines. The transition was in charge of the new presidential residence, cabinet appointments and cordial meetings between them and the outgoing administration.

Aquino took the oath of office on June 30, 2010, at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park, Manila. Traditionally, it is the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines who administers the oath of office to the incoming president and vice president. However, Aquino refused to allow Chief Justice Renato Corona to swear him into office, due to Aquino's opposition to the midnight appointment of Corona by outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on May 12, 2010, two days after the 2010 elections and a month before Arroyo's term expires. Instead, Aquino formally requested Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines Conchita Carpio-Morales, who opposed the midnight appointment of Corona, to administer his oath of office.

After being sworn in as the fifteenth president of the Philippines, succeeding Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Aquino delivered his inaugural address.

Official residence During his inauguration, Aquino stated that he did not want to live in Malacañan Palace, the official residence of the president of the Philippines, or in Arlegui Mansion, the residence of former presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel V. Ramos, stating that the two residences were too big. He also stated that his small family residence at Times Street in Quezon City would be impractical, since it would be a security concern for his neighbors. Instead, Aquino decided to use the Bahay Pangarap (English: House of Aspiration), located inside Malacañang Park, at the headquarters of the Presidential Security Group across the Pasig River from Malacañan Palace. Aquino is the first president to make Bahay Pangarap his official residence. The house, which originally had one bedroom, was renovated for Aquino to have four bedrooms, a guest room, a room for Aquino's household staff, and a room for Aquino's close-in security.

Administration and cabinet On June 29, 2010, Aquino officially named the members of his Cabinet. He appointed himself as the secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), briefly holding the position from June 30 to July 9, 2010, until he named Jesse Robredo, a former Naga mayor, as the new DILG secretary. The appointment of Robredo drew controversy after Aquino declined Vice President-elect Jejomar Binay's request to head the DILG. Instead, Aquino offered Binay various positions, such as, to head a commission that will investigate the outgoing Arroyo administration, the posts of Secretary of Agrarian Reform, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), and the chairman of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority; Binay initially refused, but has shortly after accepted to take charge of the housing sector as chairman of the HUDCC. Member party Liberal Party Akbayan National Unity Party Nationalist People's Coalition (until 2016) PDP–Laban (Pimentel faction; until 2015) Nacionalista Party (from 2012)Opposition party United Nationalist Alliance Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino Lakas–CMD