PRESIDENT AQUINO will lead the country in paying respects to the woman celebrated the world over for leading a people power revolt that toppled a dictatorship, and whose death from cancer at 76 sealed his own destiny.

Mr. Aquino, with his four sisters, other family members, friends, and other government officials, will attend a 10 a.m. Mass for the late former President Corazon Aquino, who died a year ago today, concelebrated by Bishop Socrates ?Soc? Villegas and several other priests at the campus gymnasium of La Salle Green Hills in San Juan City, where her remains briefly lay in state.

The Mass will be preceded by a program that includes the relaunch of Cory Aquino?s People Power People Movement through an audiovisual presentation and short messages about her legacy, the recitation of the People Power Prayer, and the unveiling of a marker at the Namfrel Quick Count Board whose final tally showed her defeating the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the 1986 ?snap? presidential election.

Mr. Aquino is expected to deliver a message after the Mass.

The tribute to the late former President and widow of the assassinated former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. runs along the theme ?Her Legacy, Our Promise.? It was prepared by the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation (NCAF).

Cory Aquino drew multitudes to her wake and funeral.

At La Salle Green Hills, and later at the Manila Cathedral, tens of thousands of mourners and sympathizers stood in long queues, braving intermittent rains all day and well into the night, for a last glimpse.

The great number of people who joined her funeral procession to Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City on Aug. 5 paled in comparison only to the estimated one million mourners who accompanied the remains of her assassinated husband to the same resting place in August 1983.

According to Rafael Lopa, NCAF executive director and a nephew of Cory Aquino?s, relaunching her movement is a fitting way to remember her and her legacy of people power.

?When she launched the People Power People Movement in 2003, her challenge was for us to do our part to find ways to help each other. So we will remind people of what People Power means,? Lopa said by phone on Friday afternoon.

?The important message we should bring to the public is that, for the longest time, she was the icon not only of democracy but also of people power. It was her leadership that drew the collective courage for people power to happen in 1986,? he said.

He added that the People Power Prayer would be a call for all Filipinos to ?promise to be pro-People Power People and find ways to participate in nation-building and helping Filipinos.?

Honesty, simplicity

Today?s first-anniversary commemoration should be a celebration of the ?renewed hope? inspired by Cory Aquino?s death, according to Mr. Aquino?s spokesperson, Edwin Lacierda.

?During the Arroyo administration, people were skeptical. Everything that President Gloria Arroyo said was taken with a grain of salt, as if people were only waiting for the next administration to come in,? Lacierda said yesterday over government radio dzRB.

Cory Aquino?s death ?brought back memories of Edsa I and the struggle against the dictatorship,? he said. ?In death, she became all the more an icon of governance and democracy.?

In a news report, Agence France-Presse quoted Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo as saying that Cory Aquino?s trademark characteristics of honesty and simplicity were guiding her son?s administration in its infancy.

?She is a large part of our history, not just for what she did for us but also for where she is leading us. Her example and legacy are what we are continuing today,? Robredo said.

In the same report, Vice President Jejomar Binay, a friend of the Aquinos, said: ?We have felt the impact of her death. The entire nation united to vote for President Noynoy Aquino.?

Business leader Alberto Fenix said the people had ?genuine affection? for Cory Aquino.

?Among all the past Presidents ... Cory is best remembered. She was a housewife who had the courage to stand up to Marcos,? Fenix said.

?Padre de familia?

Secretary Herminio Coloma of the Presidential Communications Group said that ?when [Mr. Aquino] announced his mother?s death, he said he would be a big brother to his sisters.?

?Padre de familia?head of the family. A year later, he?s the padre de familia of the entire nation,? Coloma said in an interview by phone.

He added that Mr. Aquino?s destiny as a leader is linked with his parents: ?His mother died, and there was a groundswell of public affection, and later a clamor for him to step up and become a candidate, and later a mandate to continue his parents? legacy.?

Indeed, the national outpouring of grief and sympathy for Cory Aquino sparked calls for her son to run for President?calls that snowballed into a movement.

Mr. Aquino announced his decision to seek the presidency on the 40th day after his mother?s death. He made the announcement at the historic Club Filipino in San Juan, where his mother was sworn in as President.

?When [Cory Aquino] was sick, people were praying and tying yellow ribbons. There were expressions of sympathy, prayers for her health. But later, as we saw it, it evolved into something more concrete, a groundswell of action, manifested by the funeral procession which is like a repeat of [Ninoy Aquino?s] funeral procession,? Coloma said.

The groundswell of support translated into 15 million votes for Mr. Aquino, 5 million more than those cast for his closest rival, deposed President Joseph Estrada, in the May 10 presidential election.

Consequence of history

The direct link between Cory Aquino?s death and the legacy that she and her husband left behind, on one hand, and their son?s ascension to power, on the other, is not lost on Lopa.

?This thing that has happened to him was something he did not plan. A consequence of history. From his mom?s passing, people saw him as the symbol of what his parents fought for,? Lopa said.

The challenges facing Mr. Aquino are ?not easy,? but can be surmounted if the people unite under his leadership, Lopa said.

Because the La Salle gymnasium can seat only 2,000, giant screens will be set up in strategic areas of the campus to allow the public to take part in today?s 10 a.m. Mass.

?We realized that a lot of people want to remember Cory Aquino, so we decided to do it there,? Lopa said.

Early today, the ?I am Ninoy I am Cory cyclists? will bike around the Ortigas Center as their tribute to the late former President. They will also donate a fund to the Carewell Foundation to drum up awareness of cancer, Lopa said.