Specific PHP Include Problem

[GobiDigital]

I have used the

<vte:include file="file.php" />

command to include a php file in the homepage. When I checked in Firebug, I noticed that the <div> tags inside the php file did come up on the homepage, but all the php code inside the <div> tags turned into this:

<!--?php ?-->

I assume this is because the tpl file is trying (and failing) to compile php code. Is there a solution for it?