Gil Aducal Morales, who is best known as Ate Gay, expressed his love and gratitude for Nora Aunor with a rendition of the song “Kahit Konting Awa” during the latter’s wake.

Ate Gay was emotional as she performed Aunor’s “Kahit Konting Awa” in honor of the National Artist’s life and legacy, as seen on the comedian’s Facebook page on Saturday, April 19.

“As long as there are Noranians, there is Nora Aunor. You will never be lost in our hearts. Thank you for being Ate Gay for three decades because of you, Ms. Nora Aunor. I will improve even more. Please guide me,” his post read.

(Until there is a Noranian, there is Nora Aunor. You never left our hearts. I became Ate Gay for three decades because of you, Ms. Nora Aunor. I will make it even better. Please guide me from above.)

Touching on the National Artist’s kindness, Ate Gay said Aunor was not selfish when it came to allowing her identity to be impersonated.

“I became a fan of Nora Aunor when I started working. I’m very grateful to her. I got to travel around the world because of her. She was supportive of her impersonators. She was not selfish. She didn’t stop us from impersonating her,” he said.

The comedian also shared that the National Artist played a huge role in inspiring him to do better in his craft.

“I learned from her how to be good to people, to be kind to fans. I learned how to entertain audiences and act better,” he said.

Aunor died of acute respiratory failure at the age of 71 on April 16, just a month before her 72nd birthday. An internment and a state funeral will be held in her honor on Tuesday, April 22.

The screen veteran is survived by Ian de Leon, her biological son with ex-husband Christopher de Leon, as well as by their four adoptive children, namely, Lotlot, Matet, Kiko and Kenneth