The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Manila

The Philippines government Friday ruled out a ceasefire with communist rebels waging a 39-year Maoist campaign, and pledged a robust response to escalating guerrilla attacks on businesses.

"There is no change in the president's policy," President Gloria Arroyo's spokesman Jesus Dureza told reporters.

He said there were no talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines or its 5,000-strong armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA).

The military this week deployed hundreds of extra troops to the southern island of Mindanao, where the NPA has stepped up its activities to about one attack every other day, targetting mostly businesses. Manila cancelled peace talks with the Maoists soon after Arroyo won a fresh term in 2004, and she has ruled out any such talks unless the rebels agreed to a ceasefire.