So which is correct, President Benigno S. Aquino III or President Benigno C. Aquino III?

President Aquino, in a dialogue with Malacañang reporters last Friday, said he prefers the former to adhere to the tradition of his grandfather and father whose given names are Benigno Simeon.

“If you noticed, my name is Benigno S. Aquino III. So why use S.? It's the given name of my grandfather, my father, and myself that's why.

If he uses C. for his mother's maiden name – the late President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino – the President said he would be varying from the tradition.

“If you use C., I'm the first. The practice is to use your mother's maiden name. But then, the reason why my grandfather and father have the same names is because of our given name,” Aquino related, speaking in Filipino.

Aquino made the clarification as reporters have been wondering why during the occasions of some government agencies he had attended, he had been using “Benigno S. Aquino III” to address the Chief Executive.

The President's father, the late Senator Benigno Simeon “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. was an opposition leader during the time of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos. He was assassinated on August 21, 1983 at the then Manila International Airport. The airport was later renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor. Aquino Jr.’s death resulted in a popular uprising which led to the ouster Marcos and the installation of his wife, Corazon, as President in 1986.

Meanwhile, the President's grandfather Benigno S. Aquino Sr. was a prominent member of the World War II Japanese collaborationist government of José P. Laurel, according to online research sources.

The President may be proud of his name but does not want it and his image being used on government programs and projects.

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Aquino has directed all government agencies “to refrain from associating the President's personality and identity in their programs and projects.”

“Thou shall not use the President's name when in vain. All projects are from taxpayers, and the taxpayer should be recognized, not the proponent,” Lacierda said.

Aquino himself related that someone has proposed a list of applications of his name for government programs, but he said: “Please, please, please (don’t do that)."

He said the cost of putting up such tarpaulins should instead be used for the government's pro-poor programs.