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.

Zamboanga City, Philippines  - Muslim rebels of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group were behind the kidnapping of three members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on a southern Philippine island, the military said Friday.

First Lieutenant Esteffani Cacho, a regional military spokeswoman, said that based on initial field reports, it was the group of Abu Sayyaf commander Alpader Parad that seized the ICRC staff on Thursday on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.

Manila - The Philippine government will investigate allegations of corruption in a road project funded by the World Bank, which blacklisted seven companies due to the charges, officials said Thursday.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said the Department of Public Works and Highway already temporarily suspended the firms - three Filipino and four Chinese - from participating in locally-funded or foreign-assisted projects.

The department will make a decision on whether to start blacklisting procedures against the companies in 15 days, he said.