Communist rebels in the Philippines ambushed a police convoy on the western island of Mindoro on Thursday, killing five people, an army spokesman said. Lieutenant-Colonel Roderick Parayno said the rebels detonated an improvised landmine as the convoy of police officers was on the way to provide security to a candidate running for governor in elections next week.
Parayno said five police officers were killed by the blast near San Jose town and five were wounded when they traded gunfire with about 30 members of the New People's Army (NPA) for 10 minutes.
"Soldiers were sent to help the local police chase the rebels and provide extra security to candidates due to the campaign in the area," Parayno said, adding an undetermined number of guerrillas were also killed or wounded. "We received information the withdrawing rebels were carrying two improvised stretchers to evacuate their casualties."
Hermogenes Ebdane, defence secretary, said the NPA had upped its activities during the election period, extorting money from candidates and spending a portion of the funds to support left-wing political groups and politicians.
Ebdane, a former national police chief, said the NPA was harrassing candidates who refused to pay "permits-to-campaign" and "permits-to-win" fees, raising tensions in rural areas. On Thursday, Philippine security forces went on full alert, anticipating political violence would accelerate ahead of balloting on May 14.
Across the 7,100 islands, soldiers and police were on guard against feuding political families, communist and Muslim rebels and the small group of Islamic militants suspected to be behind a blast that killed eight people in the south on Tuesday.
The national police said the level of violence remained low compared to previous political contests even though 98 people have died in more than 110 election-related incidents of violence.
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