MANILA -- Cancer-stricken former President Corazon Aquino, who was admitted to a hospital in Makati City last week, is in "serious" condition, her spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The 76-year-old democracy icon was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Makati Medical Center last week after she stopped eating, spokeswoman Deedee Sytangco said.

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Aquino, who has been fighting stage four colon cancer, was receiving nourishment in the hospital, Sytangco said.

The former leader was "not very well," but was not in pain and had not been placed on life support, she added.

Sytangco also said that Aquino, who was diagnosed with the disease last year, has been undergoing chemotherapy, but was no longer receiving treatment.

"We hope that people will support her and pray for her," she said.

On Wednesday, members of Aquino's former Cabinet and other supporters gathered at the Greenbelt Chapel near the Makati Medical Center to offer prayers for her recovery.

In a television report, Senator Franklin Drilon, a close supporter of Aquino, admitted that the former president is undergoing "something serious."

Among those who attended the healing mass were Sytangco, Drilon and her wife Mila, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, Gina de Venecia, former Finance secretary Ramon del Rosario Jr., and members of Black and White Movement Leah Navarro and Dinky Soliman.

Sytangco said no family members of the former president were present at the novena Wednesday as they were in the hospital. She added that only family members can visit Aquino at the hospital.

Aquino was a humble homemaker propelled to politics by the 1983 assassination of her husband, opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino. She later led a peaceful uprising in 1986 that toppled late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and became a harbinger of nonviolent protests around the world.

She stepped down in 1992 but remained active in social and political causes.

Before she became ill, she joined protest rallies calling for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo over allegations of vote rigging and corruption. (AP/Sunnex)