MANILA (UPDATED) — The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) on Tuesday announced that it would negotiate for several conditions to restart peace talks with the government, including the removal of the terrorist tag attached to their organization during the previous administration.

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After confirming the signing of a joint communique with the government on November 23 in Oslo, NDFP negotiating panel interim chair Julieta De Lima said that their camp would push for the following issues before the resumption of formal peace talks:

• Participation of detained NDFP consultants in negotiations
• Immunity for NDFP members who will participate in peace talks
• Release of all political prisoners
• Abrogation of NDFP’s terrorist designation

“The role of NDFP consultants cannot be overemphasized hence we will continue to work for their release,” De Lima said in a virtual press conference.

The “assurance of safety and immunity for those involved in peace negotiations… will help facilitate the negotiations and create a favorable atmosphere,” she added.

“We will continue to seek effective measures to address these serious concerns and create conducive conditions necessary to achieve just and lasting peace.”

The NDFP was founded in 1973 in protest of the corruption and abuses during the presidency of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

In 2016, then-President Rodrigo Duterte resumed formal peace talks with the NDFP, but announced the “permanent termination” of negotiations after 3 years, citing continued aggression from the New People’s Army, the NDFP’s armed wing.

Duterte then moved to designate the group as terrorists.

“After 6 long years, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel itself is still long and tortuous so there is a lot of work to be done to reach the light at the end,” said Asterio Palima, member of the NDFP’s negotiating panel.

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When asked why the NDFP was willing to return to the negotiating table under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., when the insurgency started due to the abuses of the elder Marcos, De Lima said: “It is very significant.”

“It would be to his own good if the armed conflict would be resolved during his term,” she said.

The panel added that Marcos Jr.’s administration did not give “preconditions or whatsoever” for the peace talks to resume.

“We are quite surprised that the President announced an amnesty. We have not discussed this at all,” Palima said, referring to a recent presidential proclamation that granted amnesty to armed rebels.

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Luis Jalandoni, a high-ranking leader and veteran peace negotiator for the NDF, said that the joint statement that signaled the start of the talks is “a product of almost 2 years of informal discussions, workshops and dialogues.”

The statement underscores that the two parties have “to a principled and peaceful resolution of the armed conflict” to address “serious socioeconomic and environmental issues, and the foreign security threats facing the country.”

The joint communique also acknowledged “the deep-rooted socio-economic and political grievances and agree to come up with a framework that sets the priorities for the peace negotiation with the aim of achieving the relevant socioeconomic and political reforms towards a just and lasting peace.”

“The joint statement which speaks for itself is significant as it reaffirms the imperative and value of peace negotiations for a principled and honorable political settlement of the armed conflict with the aim of achieving the relevant socio economic and political reforms for just and lasting peace,” said Jalandoni, one of the NDF members who has been designated as a terrorist.

“We shall come back to the negotiating table with renewed impetus yet with guarded hope that the peace process can provide an important root for important reforms for the interest and benefit of our people,” he said.

The two parties have yet to determine the members of the negotiating panels, ceasefire agreements, as well as the venues and dates of the discussions, but the NDFP said that they expect talks to begin “early next year.”

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