The late former Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino was awarded the 1st National Thank You Day award over the weekend at the Music Hall of SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

President Aquino stood out among the other nominees for the award which include internationally-acclaimed boxer Manny Pacquiao, the late musician rapper Francis Magalona, Philippine comedy icon Dolphy, broadcaster and public servant Daniel Razon, CNN’s Top 10 Heroes of 2009 Efren Peñaflorida, globally-recognized film director Brillante Mendoza, White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, fashion couturier Monique Lhuillier, multi-faceted performer Lea Salonga, Filipino-American kick-boxer Brandon Vera, and deceased film critic Alexis Tioseco.

Aquino got the most number of votes through the online voting set up in the website www.thankyoudayphilippines.com. The basis of which is who the Philippines should be most thankful for.

The National Thank You Day Award is given to a Filipino individual who has made a significant contribution to the Philippine community.

President Aquino played a major and pivotal role in giving back democracy to the Philippines through the 1986 EDSA Revolution. After her presidency, she was still highly regarded as the Filipino people continued to ask her opinions when it came to salient matters of the nation.

She passed away on August 1, 2009 at the age of 76, after a long struggle with colon cancer.

Her third daughter, Viel Aquino-Dee, represented the Aquino family in receiving the award.

Aquino-Dee said that it is their family that feels thankful to the Filipino people more. “Our family really feels so grateful for the love of the Filipino people has shown her, especially during the five days of the wake and the funeral. We are thanking everyone instead of expecting the Filipinos to thank her,” she added. Aquino-Dee enthuses that her mother was fond of expressing gratitude even in the simplest acts of kindness, such as aiding her to stand up from bed. She relates to the Manila Bulletin that saying ‘Thank You’ should be “an encouraged habit for everyone to be appreciative of everything, like counting your blessings.”

The National Thank You Day has been celebrated every October 20 by Swiss chocolate brand Toblerone through Kraft Foods in the Philippines since 2007. It was conceptualized to raise courteousness among Filipinos after the Philippines ranked among the Least Courteous list in a Global Courtesy Test conducted by Reader’s Digest in 2006. Since the occasion’s inception, the Philippines have been the Most Courteous Asian Country among recent surveys. It is only in 2009 that the organizers decided to give out a National Thank You Day Award.