MANILA, Philippines—Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III on Monday celebrated his 50th birthday with students of an elementary school “squatting” on private land near the Payatas dumpsite in Quezon City.

After visiting the Payatas C Elementary School, which was started from scratch some 20 years ago by residents of the area, Aquino promised he will make reforming education a top priority if he wins the presidency

"I was surprised because even now schools have become squatters. We will fix this. If we win, we will make this a flagship project,” said Aquino, who was greeted by shrieking children and teachers who wanted to take pictures with him.

The students also sang “Happy birthday” while paper posters on the school walls said “Happy birthday Kuya Noy. Good luck.”

“I saw the real condition of the children we are educating. Their seats were almost crammed beside each other while I also saw those errors in textbooks,” Aquino said.

The owners of the 2,000-square meter lot on which the school stands has offered to sell it but they have yet to agree with the Quezon City government on how much the tag price should be.

Aquino was joined at the school by his classmates from Batch ‘77 of Ateneo High School. They distributed books, food, and drinks to the students. Aquino’s classmates also told stories to the students before the senator arrived at around 3 p.m.

He later attended a rally at a nearby covered basketball court that was organized by the Urban Poor Alliance. He joined urban poor leaders in eating a noodle dish.