FOUR RELATIVES WERE hacked to death in the southern Philippines, police have confirmed.

The dead includes a 13-year-old boy.

Superintendent Antonio Rivera, police spokesman for the southern island of Mindanao, said that local residents discovered the hogtied bodies of the four farm caretakers in Compostela Valley (about 970km south of Manila).

The four bodies were covered with stab wounds and had their faces covered with cloth. The killings happened on Sunday.

Authorities suspect the killings may be related to a land conflict in the largely feudal region where violence is often used to settle disputes between families over property and politics.

In one of the worst cases, 58 people were murdered in Mindanao in November 2009 -allegedly by members of a powerful political clan who were trying to prevent a challenger from running against one of their members in an upcoming election.

Ireland is to send €3 million more aid to the Philippines