MANILA - POLICE said on Thursday they have arrested a wanted senior communist guerrilla leader who operated in the northern Philippines.

Edgar Molina, who carried a one-million-peso (S$30,588) bounty on his head, was arrested near the mountain town of Lacub earlier this week, a police statement said.

Molina is the alleged commander of a New People's Army (NPA) guerrilla front in the Ilocos region, according to a police report. Two alleged rebel aides, including a woman, were detained with him.

Molina is to stand trial for murder and attempted murder, it said without giving details of the case.

The NPA is the 5,000-member armed wing of the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a nearly 40-year insurgency.

The rebels have said they turned down an offer last week by the Philippine government to restart stalled peace negotiations on condition that the communists agreed to a general ceasefire.

The government also rejected a rebel demand to free some jailed guerrillas so they could help the insurgents' negotiating panel, according to a rebel statement issued to news agencies on Thursday.

The rebels also said on Thursday that they are holding a military officer and a policeman captive.

Army Special Forces Lieutenant Vicente Cammayo and police officer Eduardo Tumol would be put on 'trial' in rebel courts but will remain captive even if found not guilty due to the absence of a ceasefire, communist party official Fidel Agcaoili said in a statement.

'If they are acquitted, they cannot be released because there is no agreement for their safe and orderly release,' he said, urging the families of the captives to press the government to sign a limited ceasefire. -- AFP