The Philippines' largest rebel group retired nearly 150 guerrillas and handed over 75 firearms for decommissioning Tuesday to encourage parliament to pass a proposed law giving minority Muslims self-rule.

President Benigno Aquino visited the headquarters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to witness the weapons handover, the first concrete action by the organisation to abandon a decades-old rebellion that has claimed more than 100,000 lives.

The Philippines has freed nine Chinese fishermen convicted of poaching endangered sea turtles after they completed one-year jail terms, officials said Wednesday.

The nine, arrested in disputed waters in May last year, were jailed after they failed to pay fines of $100,000 each for poaching and an additional $2,662 each for catching an endangered species.

The Philippines and Japan will hold fresh joint naval drills this month, the Filipino military said Tuesday, as the World War II foes swiftly ramp up security ties while China develops islands in disputed waters.

The June 22-26 joint maneuvers with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force would be only the second ever, after an unprecedented one-day exercise in the flashpoint South China Sea last month, Philippine navy spokesman Colonel Edgard Arevalo said.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino on Friday welcomed Japan's growing security engagement, as regional tensions with China grow, the day after signing a deal to buy 10 ships to bolster his coastguard. 

Closing out a four-day visit to Japan that has highlighted the warm relationship between Manila and Tokyo, Aquino said no one need fear moves by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to beef up the role of the Japanese military.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino likened present-day China to Nazi Germany on Wednesday during a speech in Japan, hinting the world cannot continue to appease Beijing as it claims ever-more territory in the South China Sea.

The comments come as disquiet grows over the quickening pace of China's land reclamation program in international waters, including its construction of a runway long enough for large military planes.

The top communist guerrilla leader in the Philippines has been arrested in a blow to the decades-old Maoist rebellion following the detention of his predecessors last year, officials said Tuesday.

Adelberto Silva is considered the "highest ranking" leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its New People's Army (NPA) armed wing, a military statement said.

Fifteen people including 10 police officers were wounded in an attack on a mosque at police camp on a remote Philippine island long plagued by Islamic militancy, officials said Saturday.

Successive blasts targeted the mosque inside Camp Kasim on the island of Jolo early evening Friday -- an initial grenade attack followed by a bomb explosion less than 10 minutes later that was intended to target police who rushed to the scene, local authorities said.

A Philippine soldier in camouflage uniform and carrying an assault rifle held dozens of local tourists hostage on a bus for four hours on Friday, but surrendered peacefully, police said.

Corporal Rene Prajele, who was carrying his army-issued M-16 rifle, stopped the bus in a farming area about 300 kilometers (180 miles) from the Philippine capital, said police spokeswoman Maria Luisa Calubaquib.

Taiwan launched a peace plan Tuesday in what it said was a bid to ease growing tensions in the South China Sea, as Beijing steps up development of a disputed island chain.

But China responded by reiterating the importance of "national territorial sovereignty" and was unlikely to come to the negotiating table, analysts said.

Philippine military and commercial aircraft will keep flying over disputed areas in the South China Sea despite Chinese warnings over the airspace, President Benigno Aquino said on Monday.

"We will still fly the routes that we fly based on the international law from the various conventions we entered into," Aquino told reporters when asked whether the Philippines accepted China's position.