PHL, NDF to sign indefinite ceasefire deal

OSLO - The Philippine government and Maoist-led rebels will sign an indefinite ceasefire agreement on Friday as part of efforts to end a conflict that has lasted almost five decades and killed at least 40,000 people, Norway said.

Norway's Foreign Ministry, hosting the talks, said the ceasefire would be signed at a ceremony at 0900 GMT in Oslo, extending a truce in place since last weekend for the Oslo meeting which began on Monday.

Representatives of both the government and communist guerrillas would sign a joint declaration committing "to unilateral ceasefires with no time limit," it said. The talks in Norway are the first formal meeting in five years.

"The joint declaration, which has been negotiated in Oslo in recent days, marks the resumption of formal negotations between the new government in the Philippines and the (rebel) National Democratic Front of the Philippines," it said.

Norway has had a role as facilitator for the peace process since 2001. Fitful peace talks have been going on since 1986.

In Manila, GMA News TV's News TV Live quoted government chief peace negotiator Labor Sec. Silvestre Bello III as confirming that the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) has extended indefinitely its ceasefire declaration.

The move reciprocated an earlier indefinite ceasefire declaration by the government as disclosed by Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza days before the resumption of the peace talks.

Earlier, the CPP-NPA-NDF declared a seven-day unilateral ceasefire last August 19.

The group's reciprocation came as the panels announced the end of the first leg of peace talks and the signing of a joint statement.

The panels have reached an agreement on three major issues.

This includes, in particular, details of the ceasefire and the possible amnesty that will be given to political detainees to be identified by the NDF.

Bello has said they will recommend the amnesty to President Rodrigo Duterte.

Also among the major issues discussed at the negotiation table were:

• the affirmation of previously-signed agreements;
• reconstitution of the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) list; and
• the accelerated process for negotiations, including the timeline for the completion of the remaining substantive agenda for the talks: socio-economic reforms, political and economic reforms, and end of hostilities and disposition of forces, including the Joint Monitoring Committee. 

Duterte says he wants to end guerrilla wars with both communist and Muslim rebels that have been hampering economic development.

The 3,000-strong New People's Army, the armed wing of the communist party, operates mainly in the east and south of the Philippines. — Reuters with Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/RSJ, GMA News