MANILA -- Cancer-stricken former president Corazon Aquino is still confined at the Makati Medical Center and her condition remains "delicate," her spokesperson said Saturday.

The 76-year-old People Power icon suffers from colon cancer and is staying at a private room at the hospital where she was brought after complaining of loss of appetite early this week.

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Deedee Sytangco, Aquino's spokesperson, said doctors had prescribed "full rest," with visits limited to the former president's children and members of the medical team.

She said Aquino was already taken out of the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and her condition has been "improving" although delicate.

She said Aquino's family and the hospital management have agreed not to release any medical bulletin as they urged the public to continue praying for the People Power icon's fast recovery.

Healing mass

Aquino's supporters and friends held the fourth healing mass and prayer novena for her speedy recovery at the Sto. Niño de Paz chapel in Greenbelt 5, Makati on Saturday.

Sytangco urged Aquino's supporters to continue attending the healing masses intended for the former president instead of visiting her at the hospital.

She also said Saturday that she did not have any updates on the condition of the cancer-stricken former president.

In attendance during Saturday's healing mass and prayer novena were former Senate president Franklin Drilon, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, Margie Juico, the former appointments secretary of Aquino, and many of the former senior officials who served during her presidency from 1986 to 1992.

Majority of those who attended the mass wore her signature color, yellow, which symbolized the protest movement that brought down strongman Ferdinand Marcos three years after the assassination of Aquino's husband, opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., in 1983.

"Tita Cory has been a great inspiration not only to me but to all her cabinet members," former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Jose "Ping" de Jesus said after the mass.

But what endeared her most to them and to the Filipino people, said de Jesus, was that all her thoughts and actions were for the "good of the country."

For his part, Lim said: "Her governance is admirable because in her time she has never been in any irregularity or anomaly and she cannot be accused of whatever."

Former Interior secretary Cesar Sarino echoed the sentiment. "She has no agenda except her love for country. She trusts her people and you feel that when you work with her, she feels confident that you will do whatever is good for the country."

The former officials said they are praying for the recovery of Aquino because the country still needs "moral leadership" from her.

Aquino's Environment secretary Fulgencio Factoran Jr., former Agrarian Reform secretary Philip Ella Juico, former Transportation secretary Pete Prado, former National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) director general Dondon Paderanga, and retired Supreme Court justice Adolf Azcuna were also present during the mass.

Security

In the hospital where Aquino was admitted, authorities have tightened security measures following reports, which later turned out to be untrue, that an unidentified man tried to get inside the former president's room.

Makati police chief Cedric Train said he has deployed additional policemen to secure the Makati Medical Center's perimeter in coordination with the hospital's security officers.

Aquino was a humble homemaker propelled to politics by the 1983 assassination of her husband.

She later led a peaceful uprising in 1986 that toppled Marcos. She became a symbol of nonviolent protests around the world though her presidency was marred by several coup attempts by disgruntled military officers.

She stepped down in 1992 but remained active in social and political causes. In 2005, she joined protest rallies calling for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo over allegations of vote rigging and corruption. (AH/Sunnex)