Peace talks with Philippine communist rebels to restart soon, leader says

The Philippine government and communist rebels said on Friday that formal negotiations to end a lengthy insurgency could restart shortly, though the rebels’ armed wing announced it was beefing up its guerilla campaign.

Peace talks regarding one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies, which have been on-and-off since the 1980s, may resume as early as the second half of January, Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison said in a video message on Facebook.

Back-channel talks to “prepare the agenda” for formal negotiations have been ongoing since September and agreements on a ceasefire and social and economic reforms may be finished before President Benigno Aquino steps down in 2016, said Sison, who is in exile in the Netherlands.

Teresita Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process, did not give a timeline for the negotiations, but told reporters that Sison’s remarks were “very positive” and indicated that common ground between the two sides was “broadening”.

“Friends of the peace process have been shuttling between the two parties to explore possible parameters for restarting talks at the earliest time possible,” Deles said of the negotiations.

“So far, feedback has been positive but there remain matters to be clarified in order to ensure that, if ever we do resume talks, it will not go the same way of an early, major impasse that has happened too often in the past,” she said.

However, the communists’ armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), marked the 46th anniversary of its founding on Friday with a call to intensify its guerilla campaign.