Children use a refrigerator as a boat to cross a flooded alley in Candaba, Pampanga, north of Manila on December 18, 2015.
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Melor, a category 3 typhoon when it made landfall in the central Philippines this week, died out in the South China Sea on Thursday, but left a trail of destruction of agriculture and infrastructure.
The alleged attack, which comes two days after the Philippines’ communist party’s armed wing declared a unilateral ceasefire, occurred in one of the country’s hardest hit provinces and left two soldiers wounded.
Most of the deaths from Typhoon Melor were caused by drowning or flying debris, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Philippine authorities have tagged the rebels as notorious extortionists and blamed them for harassing banana, pineapple and rubber plantations, as well as poultry farms and mining outfits.
Reuters could not reach a rebel spokesman for comment.
The agency said on Saturday more than 160,000 houses were destroyed or damaged by the storm.
Nona affected 742,991 persons, or 165,554 individuals, of whom 140,776 persons, or 30,531 families, remain in evacuation centers in four cities and 139 towns. About a third are still in shelter areas, expecting to spend Christmas next week homeless and without power.
Cold monsoon winds blowing from the northeast brought rains to Luzon, the main northern island, where large farming communities have been submerged in mostly waist-deep floods from Typhoon Nona (international name Melor), which hit at the start of the week.
The three Visayas islands, with a combined population of 7.4 million people, are home to major tourism, trading and agricultural hubs.
Officials said another storm could bring heavy rain late on Friday to the southern island of Mindanao.
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The Philippines, which sees an average of 20 typhoons a year, is planning to build typhoon-resilient structures and to relocate residents living in danger zones to areas considered safer based on studies by local and worldwide organisations.
