MANILA - The chief bodyguard of former Philippines leader Corazon Aquino, who has died from colon cancer, told Sunday of how she calmly combed her hair as rockets rained down on the presidential palace.

Aquino remained unruffled as rebel military aircraft attacked Malacañang palace in Manila in 1987, said former general Voltaire Gazmin who tried to spirit her away from her chambers.

It was the second of a series of bloody armed challenges to a newly revived democracy. The rebels had taken over a naval base near the capital.

"She was combing her hair," Gazmin told local television. "I told her, 'Ma'am you should come down, there has been shooting.' She said she was going to meet the press later, and she needs to be presentable."

The revolt was later put down with the help of the US air force, which sent aircraft to patrol Philippine skies to prevent more attacks on the palace.

The housewife, who died early Saturday at the age of 76, was born into an elite land-owning family and had never planned on being president.

She was forced to step into her politician husband Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.'s shoes after he was gunned down at Manila airport in 1983 as he returned home from the US to challenge dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

She ran against Marcos in a disputed 1986 snap presidential election, where allegations of government cheating triggered a bloodless coup and popular uprising that swept her to power and chased Marcos into US exile.

Meanwhile, a tribute was also paid to Aquino from an unlikely quarter.

Joma Sison: Friend of the family

Jose Maria Sison, the exiled founder of the country's long-running communist insurgency, said Aquino was a "friend of the family."

Sison, interviewed by phone on local radio from his home in Utrecht, the Netherlands, recalled how Aquino had freed him and hundreds of other jailed communist rebels as a measure of goodwill that set the stage for a ceasefire and peace negotiations.

The talks, however, went nowhere and Sison and other rebel leaders fled to the Netherlands to seek asylum, claiming threats to their lives by the military.

Some of those members also launched bloody but failed coup attempts against the new post-Marcos government.

And the leftist League of Filipino Students, a fiery critic of Aquino, said in a statement that "while (we) have had principled disagreements with President Aquino ... we shall not forget the periodic unities for good governance and reform shared with the students."

Business leaders hailed Aquino's role in helping the economy recover after years of corruption and dominance by Marcos and his cronies.

"When she took over, everyone was euphoric," said Edgardo Lacson, head of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "Investments came and all the basic industries recovered. Cronyism was tempered and business went back to its rightful owners."