Three Muslim rebels and two soldiers were killed Friday in a day-long gunbattle between troops and al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf extremists blamed for beheadings and kidnappings in the southern Philippines, the military said.

The fighting began as part of an operation to capture Abu Sayyaf commander Puruji Indama, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala said in a brief statement, and sporadic gunfire continued into the night.

Kidnappers based in the southern Philippines have demanded $11.25 million in ransom for a Chinese tourist abducted from a Malaysian dive resort, a senior minister said Thursday.

Malaysian Home Minister Zahid Hamidi told Agence France Presse the family of Gao Huayun, who was kidnapped by gunmen on April 2 along with a Filipino resort worker, are negotiating with her abductors through an intermediary.

China's new ambassador to the Philippines on Tuesday met President Benigno Aquino to try to mend relations strained by a festering territorial dispute.

Zhao Jianhua, who arrived in the Philippines over a month ago, briefly met Aquino after presenting his credentials, said presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte.

A huge night fire sent slum swellers running for their lives and destroyed more than a thousand homes in the Philippines' largest southern city, officials said Sunday.

Davao city's skyline lit up as firefighters battled for more than five hours against flames that leapt swiftly from one shanty to another in the depressed coastal neighborhood of Isla Verde on Friday night, witnesses said.

The Philippines pledged to act with restraint on Friday a week after China tried to block a boat ferrying supplies to Filipino troops on a disputed reef in the South China Sea.

"(The) Philippines makes clear that it will continue to exercise self-restraint and will not raise tension in the South China Sea," Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino vowed Monday to push through with a U.N. appeal to solve its maritime disputes with China, as Beijing warned of consequences.

"We are not here to challenge China, to provoke them into any action, but I do believe that they should recognize we also have the right to defend our own interests," he told reporters.

The Philippines was set to push forward Sunday its case in the United Nations challenging Beijing's claim to most of the South China Sea, a day after a dramatic stand-off with the Asian giant's coastguard.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario is expected to announce at 2:30 pm (0630 GMT) that Manila has filed a formal plea before the U.N. arbitration tribunal, officials said, despite Chinese warnings of a fallout in bilateral relations.

Philippine soldiers aboard a fishing vessel engaged Saturday in a dramatic stand-off with Chinese coastguard ships near a remote South China Sea reef claimed by both countries, an AFP journalist witnessed.

The Philippine ship finally slipped past the Chinese blockade to reach Second Thomas Shoal, where a handful of Filipino marines are stationed on a Navy vessel that has been grounded there since 1999 to assert their nation's sovereignty.

The Philippines said Friday it planned to defy Chinese warnings and pursue a case in the United Nations challenging Beijing's claim to most of the South China Sea.

Manila is to file as scheduled its "memorial", or formal pleading on Sunday, which would allow the U.N. arbitral tribunal to study the Philippine argument that the Chinese claim covers parts of Filipino territory, officials said.

The biggest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines signed an historic pact Thursday to end one of Asia's longest and deadliest conflicts, promising to give up their arms for an autonomous homeland.

Following four decades of fighting that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed the peace deal with President Benigno Aquino's government at a high-profile ceremony in Manila.