The Philippine military has rejected claims by a UN investigator that soldiers appear to be behind many extra-judicial killings.
Philip Alston, the UN's special rapporteur on extra-judicial executions, yesterday said the military was in a state of "almost total denial" about dealing with those responsible for the murders.
But armed forces chief General Hermogenes Esperon responded: "I believe that Mr. Alston might be in a state of denial himself."
Army leaders are expected to come under further pressure later today, however, when Manila, following weeks of criticism and on Mr Alston's recommendation, finally publishes the report of a government-created inquiry into the unsolved killing of hundreds of leftwing activists.
Last month, Jose Melo, a retired supreme court judge and the head of the inquiry, said "elements in the military" were responsible for many of the shootings.
In a pre-emptive move ahead of the report's publication, the military released a copy of a letter Gen Esperon wrote to Mr Melo, rebutting his findings and calling his conclusions "strained, unfair and a blank accusation".
The government and the military have repeatedly blamed communist rebel group the New People's Army for the murders.
President Gloria Arroyo has called for the creation of special courts to deal with the political killings and asked the armed forces to update its rules on command responsibility.