Despite NPA attacks, peace talks to resume in October

Against a backdrop of intensified aggression by New People's Army rebels, the Philippine government and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) agreed to resume formal peace negotiations next month, Malacañang said Wednesday. The talks are expected to take place in October in Oslo, Norway. Government peace panel head Alexander Padilla and NDFP chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni met Tuesday with Norwegian facilitator Ambassador Ture Lundh in an effort to revive the peace talks. They met despite recent denunciations by Fideo Agcaoili, the spokesperson of the NDFP negotiating panel, that Padilla is "making impossible the formal meetings of the panels" in a dispute over safety guarantees for NDFP "consultants". Though the two sides agreed to talk formally again, government sources have told GMA News Online that the prospects for successful negotiations have dimmed due to recent actions by the NPA, mostly in Mindanao. Two company-size NPA attacks on police stations occurred in Mindanao just last August, as well as the kidnappings of a mayor and his bodyguards in Surigao and four government jail personnel in Bukidnon. The hostages have since been declared prisoners of war and offered freedom in exchange for the release of jailed NPA and Communist Party leaders. The government refused to swap, according to sources. These actions took place after the government, as a "confidence building measure" for further peace talks, worked for the release of at least five imprisoned "NDFP consultants" this year. The last, Glicerio Pernia, was released on August 3. Just three days later, an NPA unit kidnapped Henry Dano, mayor of Lingig, Surigao del Sur, and two of his military escorts. "We release political prisoners, and what are they doing?" an exasperated official told GMA News Online. "That doesn't build confidence for the peace process." Norwegian ambassador hosts two sides The informal meeting between the government panel and the NDFP was held at the Norwegian ambassador’s residence in Makati City, according to a press statement from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process. “The atmosphere during the meeting was very cordial. It also proved to be a very fruitful meeting of the minds," Padilla said. However, he clarified that the agreement was without pre-conditions or commitments. Padilla added that “positive steps" will be undertaken by both sides towards the creation of an atmosphere conducive to the formal talks. “There were no commitments made to release detained alleged NDFP consultants," Padilla said, “but the air was positive for the resumption of the talks, and the GPH did not close the door on further releases." The meeting enabled the two parties to start anew after a word war erupted between the negotiating panels in the last several weeks. “It’s always good to hope," Padilla said. The government panel is optimistic that the peace negotiations will continue, starting with bilateral talks between the Reciprocal Working Committees on Social and Economic Reforms (RWCs-SER) and working group meetings on political and constitutional reforms before moving on to the second round of formal peace negotiations, the chief government negotiator said. — with reporting by Howie Severino/VS, GMA News