MANILA - Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino left for Davao City Thursday morning to seek divine guidance on whether or not he should run for the presidency in the 2010 elections.

Aquino said he will be meeting with political allies in Davao City before proceeding to Zamboanga for a briefing on the situation in Mindanao. He is also set to meet various members of the opposition in an effort to convince them to band together and field a common candidate for next year's polls.

Aquino's younger sister, Kris, said Noynoy will be staying for several days with a religious order that was instrumental in helping their family deal with her mother's illness. The Aquino clan's matriarch, former president Cory Aquino, succumbed to colon cancer last August 1.

"I won't name names. They were very instrumental in helping Ate and Mom accept the realities of Mom's illness. They've helped Ate so much to come to terms of letting go and accepting God's Will and Noy was helped so much by them so Noy is really comfortable with them. Alam ni Noy na they have a direct line with God and Noy also feels that whatever it is they will impart, yung isha-share nila kay Noy mensahe din yun ng Mom kaya dun siya pupunta," Kris said during a "Showbiz News Ngayon" broadcast Wednesday.

Kris thanked various supporters for expressing their support for Noynoy. "The support you have shown to my brother is an indication of how much respect and trust you have for our family and for what my parents represent," she said.

She said she was especially affected when Sen. Manuel Roxas, who is widely viewed as the Liberal Party standard-bearer, withdrew his presidential bid and endorsed Noynoy's candidacy for the presidency.

"I was really crying. I felt how sad they must be, because they've invested so much of their lives into this and for him, Ninang Judy and the rest of their family to step aside, naramdaman ko kung gano kalalim yung sakripisyo at yung the pain because you did invest so much and you gave so much of yourself," she said.

She said she and her sisters expressed their misgivings to Noynoy about his plans to run before they visited the wake of Iglesia ni Cristo leader Eranio "Ka Erdy" Manalo on Wednesday.

Kris said the situation was particularly hard on her sisters, Ballsy, Pinky and Viel, since they all want to live quiet lives away from the spotlight ever since their mother's death. She added, however, that the family is 100 percent behind Noynoy in whatever decision he would make.

"I told him that we've already experienced Malacañang. Kung mabuti kang tao, kung tapat ka sa tao, kung wala kang kurakot na ginagawa napakahirap nung buhay na yon kung nandun ka para manilbihan sa tao at wala kang iniisip para sa sarili mo. It is the biggest sacrifice because you give yourself. You not only give yourself, puso, isipan, kaluluwa buong pagkatao binibigay mo sa bayan 24/7," she said.

She added, however, that she apologized to Noynoy because she thought about their welfare first before the country, which is different from what their parents taught them.

Aquino sky-rocketed into the public consciousness during the Manila funeral for his mother which was attended by nearly 500,000 people.

The Aquino political legend began in tragedy when gunmen believed linked to President Ferdinand Marcos killed Cory Aquino's husband and then opposition leader, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, in 1983.

A reluctant Cory took over the mantle as opposition leader and, after leading millions of people on to the streets, toppled Marcos' 20-year reign, taking over as president in the so-called "people power" revolution. With Agence France-Presse