MANILA, Philippines—Police have intensified search and rescue operations for the three policemen reportedly abducted by communist rebels last Saturday as officials vowed they would not heed demands of the rebel group.

In a phone interview, Chief Superintendent Perfecto Palad, regional director of police regional office 4-A, said Task Force Montalban has been formed to gather information on the whereabouts of the policemen, identified as Inspector Rex Cuntapay and Police Officers 1 Alberto dela Cruz and Marvin Agasen.

The three, together with three others, were responding to a distress call in Rodriguez (formerly Montalban) town at 12:15 p.m. Saturday when New People’s Army rebels attacked them. The suspects detonated a landmine and then shot at the policemen, resulting to the death of PO1 Rickson Aquino and the wounding of PO1 Ricardo Flores and PO1 Michael Tarun.

The suspects then fled and carted away the service firearms of the policemen.

On Tuesday, Palad awarded the two wounded policemen with medals for their bravery.

Last Sunday, the three abducted policemen reportedly contacted their respective wives, Palad said. The three reportedly told their wives they were in good condition and asked them to talk to authorities to facilitate for their release.

The three policemen reportedly asked their wives to talk to Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Jesus Verzosa. One condition for their release was to stop police rescue operations in the area, Palad said.

But Palad said police would continue their search and rescue operations particularly in the towns of Rodriguez, San Mateo, and even in Quezon province. Police were closely working with the Special Action Force, the Regional Mobile Group, and the 15th Infantry Division (ID) of the Philippine Army in their rescue operations.

In a separate interview, Interior and Local Government secretary Ronaldo Puno condemned the attacks and called it an “act of treachery” by the rebel group.

“But the disturbing thing about it is the use of landmines. Because a road landmine is kind of like ‘to whom it may concern’ and if you use things like that, the possibility of harming innocent individuals is very high,” Puno said.

“Secondly, the use of distress calls to the police units in order to draw the men into these ambushes…is not very helpful to the community. If the NPA will use calls for help to the police station to ambush every police unit that responds, how about those who are legitimately needing help?” he said.

Police were considering filing human rights violation charges against the NPA before the Commission on Human Rights.