MANILA - With close to 300,000 Filipinos turning up for Wednesday's funeral of former president Corazon Aquino, not a few have wondered -- where was President Arroyo during yesterday's rites?

Two former presidents - Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada - attended the requiem Mass for Aquino at the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros. One foreign leader, East Timor President and Nobel prize winner José Ramos Horta, even came to the Philippines to pay his last respects to Aquino.

On Thursday Deputy Presidential Spokesman Anthony Golez refused to shed light on the mystery. He said Mrs. Arroyo visited Aquino's wake upon her arrival from the United States on Wednesday.

He said Mrs. Arroyo also led the novena prayer offered for the late President Aquino in Malacañang Palace on Wednesday.

Asked if Mrs. Arroyo watched the Aquino funeral rites on television, Golez said: "The President is in mourning together with the rest of us."

The Palace spokesman chided critics who said that the show of unity during Aquino's funeral could lead to an upheaval of the Arroyo administration. He said people should not insult the memory of Aquino by using her death to further their political ambitions.

Golez said the Arroyo administration supports moves to declare Aquino a national hero.

"We are supportive of those moves even those proposing for her sainthood because she has imbibed the Christian principles in he leadership. She epitimoized what it was to be a servant leader. It's a good move and we will wait for the proposal to come out in order for us to study that," he said.