MANILA, August 1, 2009 (AFP) - The family of former Philippine president Corazon Aquino, who died Saturday after battling colon cancer, has decided on a private funeral for the democracy icon next week.

The decision came shortly after President Gloria Arroyo offered a state burial for Aquino and ordered a 10-day national period of mourning.

Aquino's senator son, Benigno Aquino Jr, said he and his four siblings had opted to bury their mother beside her late husband at a private cemetery in Manila.

"That was the intention from the start," Benigno Aquino Jr said, adding that nobody from the presidential office had contacted him "nor am I waiting to talk to anybody there."

Aquino was swept into the presidency after leading a "People Power" revolt that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

Her husband, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, was assassinated by Marcos henchmen three years earlier as he returned to Manila after a period of exile in the United States.

A vocal critic of corruption, Aquino in recent years had a falling out with Arroyo, whose family has been accused of massive corruption.

Benigno Aquino said his mother's body would be taken to the campus of a Catholic school in Manila and would be on public view later Saturday.

Daily masses will be held until Wednesday, when Aquino's remains will be laid to rest beside her husband.