Two people were killed and three others injured on Sunday in a hostage-taking incident inside a mall in a city outside the Philippine capital, a provincial police chief said.

The fatalities at the SM Mall hostage-taking incident in Dasmarinas city in Cavite province, 34 kilometres south of Manila, were the hostage-taker and a mall-goer, according to provincial police chief Arthur Bisnar.

The hostage-taker, identified as Marcus Lacdao, 32, allegedly went inside the mall to look for his wife, who was working as janitor in the establishment, Bisnar said.

"When he couldn't find his wife he went on a rampage and attacked mall-goers with a knife and then held a woman hostage," Bisnar told reporters.

Police negotiated with Lacdao to release the hostage, but after two hours of fruitless negotiations decided to conduct rescue operations that resulted in the killing of the hostage-taker, Bisnar said.

Lacdao's hostage was rescued unharmed, he added.

Bisnar said the injured victims suffered knife wounds when the suspect attacked them, but all of them were in a stable condition and treated at a nearby hospital.

Investigators are still determining how the hostage-taker was able to bring the knife inside the mall.