Philippine Government to Start Peace Talks with Rebels

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Tuesday that she has approved the resumption of formal peace talks on April 27 between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF).

Arroyo said at a press conference in the presidential palace that this was the recommendation of the chairman of the government panel,Silvestro Bello III, as well as acting Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita following Bello's informal talks with NDF leaders led by Jose Ma. Sison in the Netherlands.

Arroyo also announced the reinstatement of the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG), further discussions on the respect of human rights and international humanitarian law as well as the validity of previous agreements between the two sides reached from 1992 to 1998.

The JASIG will precisely set the terms and conditions for the NDF leaders if they decide to come home for the peace talk, Ermita said at the press conference.

At the same time, she welcomed the commitment of the NDF to release as soon as possible Army Major Noel Buan who has been taken captive for more than a year by the NDF's military wing, the New People's Army.

The matter of the venue of the peace talks between the government and the NDF was still undecided however. Arroyo said this issue would be further studied by the cabinet's Cluster E, which is in charge of national security issues.

Arroyo invited the NDF representatives abroad to "come to the Philippines and join us here in the cause of peace and stability."

Last week, the president declared a one-month unilateral ceasefire with the NPA starting Monday in 11 provinces north and south of Manila to speed up the resumption of the peace talks.

In response, the NDF declared on Monday that it would also implement a one-month truce in six provinces near Manila from March 17 upon receiving a copy of Arroyo's order of suspension of military offensives against the NPA.

The peace talks between the two sides collapsed in May 1999 when the NDF protested over the ratification by the Senate of the Philippines-United States Visiting Forces Agreement, which allows the resumption of large-scale joint war games in the country.






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