Manila  - The Philippine government and Muslim separatist rebels should hammer out a new ceasefire to end military offensives that have displaced thousands of civilians in the country's troubled south, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said Tuesday.

The military's operations in the southern region of Mindanao aim to arrest three commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who led a series of attacks in August 2008, killing dozens of civilians and soldiers.

Manila  - Remittances from overseas Filipinos posted a better-than-expected 13.7-per-cent growth in 2008 despite the worsening global economic crisis, the government said Monday.

Central bank Governor Amando Tetangco said remittances totaled 16.42 billion dollars in 2008, slightly higher than the bank's forecast of 16.3 billion dollars for the whole year.

Remittances in 2007 were 14.44 billion dollars, Tetangco said.

Manila  - Three suspected robbers were killed in a shootout with police officers in the Philippine capital on Monday, a police official said.

A bystander was wounded in the firefight in Sikatuna village in the Manila suburban city of Quezon, but was already in safe condition after being rushed to a nearby hospital.

Chief Superintendent Magtanggol Gatdula, a district police director, said gunmen opened fire at police officers who responded to reports of suspicious men in the area.

Manila  - Philippine troops have "slowed down" operations against Muslim militants holding captive three staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to pave the way for negotiations, a military spokesman said Sunday.

Brigadier General Gaudencio Pangilinan, the armed forces' civil relations chief and spokesman for the ICRC hostage crisis, said government soldiers have been told to maintain their positions while the negotiations are ongoing.

Manila - Philippine security forces have arrested two Muslim militants with alleged links to a pair of Indonesians wanted in the 2002 Bali bombings, an official said Thursday.

Eduardo Ermita, chief of the Philippine anti-terrorism council, said Mokasin Dilna, a leader of the militant al-Khobar group, which has been accused of bombings and extortion, was arrested on January 29 in Zamboanga City, 875 kilometres south of Manila.

Omar Venancio, a close associate of senior members in the Philippines of the regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), was arrested January 7 in Cotabato City,

Manila  - Three communist rebels were killed Thursday in a pre-dawn clash with government troops in a northern Philippine province, an army spokesman said.

Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres said one soldier was also wounded in the firefight in the village of Galintuha in Maria Aurora town in Aurora province, 150 kilometres north-east of Manila.