MANILA, Philippines – As Singapore mourns the death of Singapore’s founding leader Lee Kuan Yew, President Benigno Aquino III too paid his respects at the Singapore Embassy in the Philippines.

On Friday, March 27, Aquino signed the Book of Condolences for the late former prime minister.

“I, along with the Filipino people, stand in solidarity with Prime Minister Lee Hsien-Loong and the people of Singapore in this time of grieving, as we all honor Lee Kuan Yew, whose steady and efficient leadership and whose bold vision transformed Singapore into the city-state that it is today,” he wrote.

Aquino was joined by Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Singapore Embassy Charge d’affaires Scott Loh Chee Heong.

Lee, 91, died Monday, March 23 at the Singapore General Hospital following a long illness. He is scheduled to be cremated on Sunday, March 29. Until then, Singapore is under declaration of national mourning.

Lee, whose health rapidly deteriorated after his wife of 63 years, Kwa Geok Choo, died in 2010, was in the hospital for nearly 7 weeks with severe pneumonia.

Two years before he died, Lee revealed that he had signed an advance medical directive instructing doctors not to use any life-sustaining treatment if he could not be resuscitated.

He served as prime minister from 1959, when colonial ruler Britain granted self-rule, to 1990, leading Singapore to independence in 1965 after a brief and stormy union with Malaysia.

Singapore now has one of the world’s highest per capita incomes and its residents enjoy near-universal home ownership, low crime rates and first-class infrastructure. – with reports from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com