MANILA (AFP) – The nation remembered Sunday the late Corazon  Aquino, who led the nation in crushing a dictatorship and whose death exactly a year ago propelled her son to the presidency.

President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III led family and friends in a special Mass that celebrated the heroism of his mother, who in her trademark yellow dress led the “people power” uprising to end the 20-year regime of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

“It’s really comforting for the family to see the continuous outpouring of support,” said Rapa Lopa, a nephew who organized the event.

Huge television monitors were set up around the gymnasium in Manila, bringing back poignant memories when tens of thousands of people gathered to pay their respects when she succumbed to colon cancer at age 76 last year.

Ordinary Filipinos meanwhile trooped to a cemetery in the capital where Aquino was buried beside her husband, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., the anti-Marcos namesake of the current president.

Cory Aquino was a housewife until her husband was gunned down by assassins at the then Manila International Airport upon arriving from the United States in 1983 to resume the political fight to oust Marcos.

Marcos had declared martial law in 1972 and cracked down on all opposition figures including Ninoy Aquino.

He was later allowed to leave for medical purposes, but used his exile to attack Marcos, whose rule was marked by massive rights abuses and corruption that left the national coffers virtually empty.

In the wake of the killing, the opposition united behind the widow of the martyred Ninoy and she reluctantly agreed to lead them.

She ran for president against Marcos in the 1986 elections.

Rampant election cheating by Marcos forces triggered the “people power” revolt that toppled him from power and installed the housewife as president.

During her six years in office, Aquino restored democracy and earned a reputation for honesty, modesty and religious piety.

She quietly stepped down in 1992, but had continued to remain an outspoken anti-corruption advocate until her death.

Her son used the outpouring of grief and public support to launch his campaign that transformed him from a political lightweight to the country’s 15th president.

Most prayerful president

The Philippines’ most prayerful president.

This was how Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas described the late President Aquino, whose first death anniversary was commemorated Sunday at the De La Salle Greenhills in Mandaluyong City.

Villegas, in his homily, said Cory was the country’s most prayerful president who never missed a chance to encourage the people to pray and whose example of prayer, translated into her life, was a source of inspiration for many.

“Her memory is a sterling lesson of detachment from power and prestige. Her life was a story of full and unconditional dependence on the power of God and the strength of prayer,” he said.

“She gave us her best when she was our President and yet she remained detached and unaffected by the trappings of power and prestige. Everything is vanity! God alone for Tita Cory is enough!” added Villegas.

Just like his mother, the prelate also found President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s indifference to power as edifying and incredible.

“Thank you for restoring our trust in government and for showing that public officials are indeed honorable people,” Villegas said.

He, however, reminded the President not to make things difficult for his successor once he steps down from office in 2016.

“Make it easy for your successor. You know how hard it is to inherit a corrupt system. Don’t do it unto your successor. Everything will pass. The nice things will end.

The problems will also end,” said Villegas.

“At the sunset of your Presidency, you will only be judged according to how much you have loved this country. In the end, only love will remain. While Cory is the most prayerful president may you be our most available and loving bachelor President,” he added.

Cory known as an icon of democracy in the country died of colon cancer last year while confined at the Makati Medical Center.

Manila's commemoration

Manila Mayor Alfredo S. Lim, city hall employees, and other residents of Manila joined the nationwde commemoration of Cory Aquino’s first death anniversary.

The event started at 7:30 a.m. Sunday at the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Park, where statues of both Ninoy and Cory stand side by side. A solemn offering of flowers was made at the monument of the country’s first female president.

The monuments of Ninoy and Cory were built by Lim in order to remind Filipinos of the sacrifice and dedication the couple gave to our country, and to thank the selfless duo for inspiring nationalistic fervor within their countrymen.