Philippine government to release arrested Communist leaders

Manila: The Philippine government will release some arrested communist leaders while leftist negotiators signed a ceasefire agreement to be implemented during the holding of formal peace talks in Norway in February, sources told Gulf News.

"It is a sign of goodwill," said Alex Padilla, negotiator of the Philippine government, with reference to the Philippine government's offer to release arrested members of the 42-year-old Communist Party of the Philippines and its military arm, the New People's Army (CPP-NPA).

On January 18, the Philippine government and the communist National Democratic Front (NDF), CPP-NPA's negotiating arm, signed a joint communiqué in Oslo, stating there will be an "expeditious release" of several CPP-NPA leaders, including NDF consultants who were supposed to be covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) that the government and leftist negotiators had initially forged after they started holding peace talks in 1992, Padilla said in a statement from Norway.

NDF negotiator Luis Jalandoni said about 300 communist leaders have been detained by the government. One of them was NPA leader Tirso Alcantara who was arrested on January 5.

Surprising ceasefire

After the holding of informal peace talks in Oslo from January 14-18, the NDF relented and agreed to the silencing of guns in Philippine war zones at a time when government NDF negotiators start holding a seven-day formal peace talks in Oslo from February 15-21.

It was the first time that the two parties agreed to a ceasefire in the Philippines while leaders and negotiators hold formal peace talks abroad, observers said. Both Philippine military and NPA leaders hailed the ceasefire agreement, saying it was a welcomed move. The two camps just ended an 18-day ceasefire before Christmas and after New Year.

The two negotiating parties also agreed to review the implementation of JASIG, to help both camps prevent the repetition of mistaken arrest of communist leaders that had happened in the past, said Padilla, adding that the coming ceasefire and JASIG's proper implementation will make negotiators of both camps focus on forging an agreement for the achievement of socioeconomic reforms, political and constitutional reforms.

They are the more substantial parts of the talks, said Padilla. In the past, negotiators tried to forge agreement on the substantive part of the talks rather than on ceasefire and JASIG's implementation, the violations of which really disruptive several cycles of talks since 1992.