The Philippines on Tuesday allowed Taiwan government experts to see video footage of the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by a Filipino coastguard vessel, officials said.

The viewing of the video was a key demand by Taiwan to settle the controversy that has severely strained ties between the two parties.

Communist insurgents in the Philippines killed eight police commandos on Monday, authorities said, the latest in a series of attacks by the rebels this year that have left dozens of people dead.

The landmine and gun attack, which also left seven officers wounded, came a month after the government announced that peace talks aimed at ending the 44-year-old rebellion had crumbled.

Communist insurgents in the Philippines killed seven police commandoes on Monday, authorities said, the latest in a series of attacks by the rebels this year that have left dozens of people dead.

The New People's Army rebels killed the seven and wounded seven other officers in an ambush two kilometers (1.2 miles) from a police station in a remote farming town, regional police spokesman Cesar Orlanes told reporters.

The confirmed death toll from fighting between Philippine troops and al-Qaida linked extremists rose to 14 on Sunday as troops pursued the militants, a military spokesman said.

Soldiers were pressing on with their hunt for the Abu Sayyaf group a day after a bloody clash on the remote southern island of Jolo, said Brigadier General Domingo Tutaan.

Taiwan on Saturday protested to the Philippines for sending naval ships to disputed South China Sea islands in the latest diplomatic spat between the two governments.

"The foreign ministry expresses its serious concern and firm opposition over the Philippines' dispatch of naval vessels to Renai (Second Thomas) Shoal in the Spratly Islands," it said in a statement.

Twelve people were killed in the Philippines on Saturday as troops clashed with a militant group blamed for the country's deadliest terror attacks, the military said.

The fighting left seven Filipino marines dead and nine others wounded on the remote southern island of Jolo, military spokesmen said.

The Philippines vowed Thursday to fight China "to the last man standing", as a Chinese warship patrolled around a remote reef occupied by a handful of Filipino marines in disputed waters.

In the latest flare-up over competing claims to parts of the South China Sea, the Philippines this week denounced the "provocative and illegal presence" of the warship and a fleet of Chinese fishing vessels near Second Thomas Shoal.

A clan whose chiefs are on trial for the Philippines' worst political massacre secured big wins in local elections this week, results showed Friday, deepening fears that justice may never be served.

Leaders of the Ampatuan family and their gunmen are accused of massacring 58 people, including 32 journalists, in the southern province of Maguindanao more than three years ago in a bid to quash a rival's challenge to become governor.

Taiwan held a military exercise Thursday in waters near the northern Philippines in response to the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman, after rejecting repeated apologies from Manila.

President Ma Ying-jeou reiterated that the Philippines should take formal responsibility for the death of the 65-year-old, shot last week by Philippine coastguards who said his vessel intruded into Philippine waters.

A coin toss has decided the lucky winner of mayor for a small Philippine town, after rival candidates were tied at the end the vote count, an election official said Thursday.

The dramatic conclusion to the contest for San Teodoro, a farming town of about 16,000 people in the central Philippines, took place in the local election office, with the politicians tossing the coin to decide their fate.