Manila - The Philippine armed forces on Tuesday ignored a demand by Islamic militants holding three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff on a southern island to stop military operations to rescue the hostages.

Armed forces chief of staff General Alexander Yano said there was no halt in military operations to rescue Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba, who were seized last week on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.

The three hostages, who were abducted after visiting the provincial jail on Jolo, are being held by al-Qaeda-linked Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels in the jungles of Indanan town.

Manila - A peace agreement between the Philippine government and Muslim secessionist rebels is unlikely to be attained under the tenure of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a security analyst and a rebel negotiator said Monday.

Peace talks between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government have been suspended since August last year when hostilities between the rebels and the military escalated in the strife-torn southern region of Mindanao.

The violence erupted after the Supreme Court stopped the signing of a key agreement that would have expanded an existing Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.

Manila - Muslim militants holding captive three staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on a southern Philippine island have demanded that the military halt rescue operations, a Philippine Red Cross official said Monday.

Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, said the hostages - Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba - relayed their captor's demand in telephone calls.

"They (the abducted ICRC staff) called up this morning and said they are okay," Gordon told a local radio station. "They said their abductors want the military to call off the pursuit operations."

Gordon said the ICRC staff also said they were unharmed.

Manila - The Philippine military kept mum on Saturday on the continuing efforts to rescue three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) workers seized by Islamist militants earlier in the week.

First Lieutenant Esteffani Cacho, spokeswoman for the armed forces' Western Mindanao Command, said the military will no longer provide updates regarding the kidnappings of Swiss Andreas Notter, 38; Eugenio Vagni, 62; and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba, 44.

The three had just visited the provincial jail on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila on Thursday when suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels blocked the path of their vehicle and seized them.

Manila - Eighteen people were killed in flashfloods and landslides caused by two weeks of heavy rains in the southern and eastern Philippines, the Office of Civil Defence (OCD) said Friday.

Eight fatalities were reported in the eastern provinces of Northern Samar, Catanduanes and Capiz, while 10 were killed in the southern province of Misamis Oriental and Agusan del Sur.

The victims drowned or were buried in landslides, the OCD said.

Nine people were still reported missing and feared dead in the affected provinces.

More than 314,000 people were adversely affected by the heavy rains in 13 eastern and southern provinces, where nearly 3,000 houses were damaged or destroyed, the OCD said.