Government - NDF peace talks set April 27

Government negotiators and communist insurgent leaders have agreed to resume formal peace talks next month in a foreign country, the communist leadership said yesterday.

The agreement for the talks on April 27 at a "mutually acceptable foreign neutral venue" was contained in a preliminary accord paving the way for a resumption of peace talks.

The accord was forged March 6-9 by the two sides in Utrecht and The Hague in the Netherlands, where the communist National Democratic Front (NDF) maintains its international headquarters.

In Manila, Malacañang said it has yet to verify the NDF statement with the government negotiator whose report is due shortly.

The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) panel is chaired by former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello III, with Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Braganza and lawyer Rene Sarmiento as members. The NDF was represented by executive committee member Luis Jalandoni, chairman, and members Fidel Agcaoili and Coni Ledesma.

The NDF said in a statement issued from Utrecht that its panel and the go-vernment side agreed to adhere to conditions set under previous peace talks that were called off in 1999.

These include the extension by both sides of "immunity guarantees" for their negotiators, the formation of "reciprocal working committees" to study social and economic reforms, and talks on implementing a human rights agreement by the two sides.

The agenda of the first day of talks will focus on exchanging credentials, approval of joint principles and formal negotiations on the social and economic reforms, the NDF statement said.

The government also committed to release more captured insurgents as a "confidence-building measure," said the NDF, which has come up with 10 agreements and joint declarations with the GRP since 1992.

But Press Undersecretary Roberto Capco said nothing was official until Bello’s report comes in. "The trip of Mr. Bello is for discreet, with emphasis on discreet, informal exploratory talks with the NDF to establish parameters for the resumption of peace negotiations," he said.

"Mr. Bello has not even made a report with regards to his exploratory talks. So we cannot confirm this alleged statement from the NDF," he added.

The announcement came after President Arroyo declared a 30-day unilateral ceasefire covering 11 Southern Tagalog provinces to speed up the peace process and to give the rebels a chance to safely release Army Maj. Noel Buan, whom they have been holding for more than a year.

Mrs. Arroyo made the move after police Chief Inspector Abelardo Martin, who was kidnapped by the communist guerrillas in late 1999, was fatally shot Thursday in a chance encounter between his captors and a military patrol.

However, the NDF statement made no mention of the ceasefire called by Mrs. Arroyo or her appeal they release their remaining captive.

After assuming office in January, Mrs. Arroyo ordered a resumption of talks with the communists and the Muslim separatists operating in the south.

She released 15 communist and Muslim insurgents over the past week in a gesture to both groups. The President also called a unilateral ceasefire with the Muslim insurgents in the southern Philippines.

The communists, who include an 11,000-strong armed wing, the New People’s Army, have been waging a Maoist rebellion to seize power for 32 years.

Communist insurgents pulled out of peace talks with the government of then president Joseph Estrada in 1999 after the Philippines signed a military training agreement with the United States.

Meanwhile, the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) welcomed the preliminary accord between the government and the NDF.

"The Filipino people welcome this as a positive step that veers away from the all-out war, the unilateral scuttling of the peace talks and the junking of the past agreements under the ousted Estrada regime," Bayan chairperson Rafael Mariano said. – Marichu Villanueva