MANILA - Families of political prisoners in the Philippines are hopeful their loved ones will soon be freed based on Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's stated willingness to release jailed communist rebels as part of confidence-building measures to resume peace talks with communist insurgents.

"We are happy that, first of all, President Digong recognizes that there are political prisoners in our country. That is a big step for us who, for years, have been asking for acknowledgement and calling for the release of our families," Niki Gamara, daughter of political prisoner Renante Gamara, said at a recent press conference. She used the nickname of Duterte, who will take over the presidency from President Benigno Aquino on June 30.

"Now, with his pronouncement that he will release them, of course, we are excited and happy. We now have bigger hopes that this will push through, that we will finally be reunited with our families," she said.

Human rights advocate groups say there are 543 political prisoners across the country, of whom, more than half, they allege, were arrested during the Aquino administration. The longest-serving prisoner is a man arrested in May 1985 during the rule of then President Ferdinand Marcos.

The groups say trumped-up criminal charges such as murder were leveled against many of them simply for being critical of the government. Some have been convicted, while others remain on trial.

Fidel Agcaoili of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the umbrella organization of left-leaning groups, said among the political prisoners are 18 consultants of the groups involved in peace talks with the government.

Having met with Duterte twice last month following the May 9 presidential election, Agcaoili confirmed that releasing the political prisoners will be on the agenda when his group and the government hold a preliminary dialogue this month in Norway, the third-party negotiator, for the resumption of peace talks.

The on-and-off peace negotiations between the government and the communist movement started in 1987, some 20 years after the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army, were established. After some progress during the Aquino administration, an impasse set in over the government's refusal to release prisoners whom the communists regard as their peace consultants.

In waging war against the government, communist rebels assassinated lawmakers, attacked police and military outposts, and bombed private companies that failed to pay so-called "revolutionary taxes," among other crimes. Recent military estimates place the strength of the New People's Army at no more than 4,000, far below the 26,000 at its peak in the 1980s.

Duterte, a self-confessed socialist who was once a student of Jose Maria Sison, founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines and currently living in self-exile in the Netherlands, said he is willing to grant amnesty to political prisoners as part of his peace strategy.

"I am offering my hand of peace in good faith. So all must deal in good faith," he said late last month.

"That's why I'm talking to the Left...because I want a peaceful country," said the incoming leader, who added he would also welcome Sison back to the country as part of the resumption of peace talks and offer some Cabinet posts to left-leaning personalities.

In a gathering on June 2 in the Manila suburb of Quezon City, Gamara and other families of political prisoners wrote letters addressed to Duterte, asking him to fulfill his pronouncement about the political prisoners.

Among the current political prisoners, 47 are women, 88 are ailing, and 48 are elderly, the group said.

Rodelio Torres, whose daughter was arrested June 2014 over her alleged involvement in a murder, wrote that while he and his wife are taking care of her two children, "I know, Mr. President, that we cannot fully give what a mother can to her children."

Duterte was mayor for more than 20 years in the southern city of Davao on Mindanao island before he was prodded to run for president.

Gamara said more than being excited to be reunited with their loved ones who are political prisoners, they expect Duterte to also seriously address the problems of the country that actually fueled their relatives' social activism.

All in all, family members of 43 political prisoners prepared letters for the incoming leader and they intend to present them to him in an upcoming gathering sometime this month.

"Certainly, it would help (in the formal resumption of the peace talks) that (political prisoners) who would participate in the peace negotiations are released," Jalandoni said.

Sison, for his part, said he intends to visit the Philippines in July or August to meet with Duterte, depending on certain conditions, including the release of some political prisoners.

==Kyodo