TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Philippines?The National Democratic Front (NDF) in Eastern Visayas dismissed the military?s claim that it discovered a grave containing the remains of four persons allegedly executed by the New People?s Army (NPA) in a remote village in a Northern Samar town.

In a statement on Tuesday, NDF spokesman Fr. Santiago Salas said the remains could be victims of military atrocities.

The military and the police exhumed the remains of two persons buried 80 meters apart in shallow graves five meters deep in a mountain village of Cahicsan, Mondragon town.

An informant, allegedly a former rebel, reportedly identified the two remains as that of Danilo Martirez and Esmin de Guia, who were allegedly killed during a Communist purging in the 1980s.

?There has never been hysteria such as an anti-infiltration campaign or widespread ?purging? in the history of the revolutionary movement in Samar,? Salas said.

He added that the ?discovery? of alleged purging victims was part of the military?s psy-war campaign conducted not only in the region but also nationwide.

?This new wave of fabrications attempts to pave the way for more extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations under Oplan Bantay Laya (Operation Freedom Watch), as well as to legitimize the regime's repression of all political opposition,? Salas said.

The police and the military said they were set to exhume more remains after the informant told the military that more bodies were buried in the area.

On the other hand, Lt. Colonel Armand Rico, information officer of the 8th Infantry Division, said he was not surprised by Salas? statement, saying officials of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), of which the NDF serves as its political arm, has been in denial ever since the discovery of its own atrocities.

?The mass grave was discovered by the military and the police through an information relayed to us by a former rebel member. Common sense will tell us: why should we exhume those whom they claimed we have killed and buried, and announce its discovery?? Rico said in a text message on Tuesday.

Rico said that the mass grave in Inopacan town, Leyte, on August 28, 2007, which yielded 67 sets of skeletal remain, were also disowned by the communist leadership.

The discovery of the mass grave in Inopacan was used as basis in the filing of multiple murders against current and former CPP-NPA leaders including Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo. Ocampo has denied participating in any communist purge in the 1980s. The case against him has not prospered.