Manila warns of rebel threat during polls

Manila: Philippine communist rebel group the New People's Army (NPA) is using left-wing political parties to try to win more seats in May's congressional and local elections, the president's security adviser said yesterday.

In a forum with foreign correspondents and diplomats, Norberto Gonzales also said the Maoist-led rebels had been training death squads to assassinate President Gloria Arroyo and other officials, including himself.

"They want me dead before the elections. They are training a group of assassins - snipers," Gonzales said, adding the rebels are targeting him for a spate of political murders in the past year that human rights groups have blamed on the military.

Gonzales said left-wing political organisations must not be allowed to win seats in the Lower House of Congress because of suspicions they were using state funds to promote an armed rebellion in the country.

"The election period hangs like a dark cloud over the local economy. Even then many businessmen expect it to be uneventful, many are still wary of it," Christian Monsod told a conference of Philippine business leaders yesterday.

Since 1969, more than 40,000 people have been killed in one of the longest-running communist insurgencies in the world.