MANILA—Some wanted Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) members, including founder Joma Sison, could be out of the country but Philippine security forces will find a way to catch them, a military official said.

"As for those who are, like Mr. Sison, outside the country, we may not be able to serve the warrant right away as they are outside our jurisdiction. But we are not without recourse," Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, the military's spokesperson, said in a statement Friday.

Sison, his wife Juliet, and 36 others were tagged in the so-called "Inopacan massacre," a 1980s purge of CPP members accused of various offenses in Leyte, according to an arrest warrant issued on August 28 by Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32.

"We are, as ever, firm in our resolve to hunt down these terrorists who perpetrated this dastardly, cowardly, and devilish acts to serve the warrant and arrest them," Arevalo said.

Besides Sison and his wife, among those ordered arrested were the following:

• Luis Jalandoni, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) senior adviser
• Rodolfo Salas alias Ka Bilog, a former CPP chair who was arrested in 1986 and granted amnesty in 1992 by former President Fidel V. Ramos
• Leo Velasco, a communist consultant
• Prudencio Calubid, NDFP consultant
• Sarmiento Eduardo, NDFP consultant
• Geronimo Pasetes
• Francisco Pascual, Jr.
• Mil Lominion
• Fortunato Felicilda
• Benjamin Beringel
• Quirino Quinawayan
• Fernando Rachel
• Pecario Sonana
• Jesus Solayao
• Lino Salazar
• Alfredo Taladro
• Tito Gabar
• Muco Lubong
• Felix Dumali
• Ciriaca Malimot
• Luzviminda Orillo
• Anselmo Balduhesa
• Alfredo Mabingay
• Bertino Oroza
• Bonifacio Padoc
• Rodrigo Paplona
• Prescillono Beringel
• Anastacio Dorias
• Nick Ruiz
• Sammy Labarda
• Charlie Fortaliza
• Luis Villena
• Rolando Caballera
• Donata Lumbrento
• Luz Abejo

The court did not recommend bail for them.

The murder charges were filed in 2006 after skeletons of 67 alleged victims were discovered in Subang Daku Village in Inopacan town.

Sison had denied the charges.

—Report from Chiara Zambrano and Mike Navallo, ABS-CBN News