But National Democratic Front (NDF) chairman Luis Jalandoni, the chief rebel negotiator, was reluctant to agree to a timetable.
"The two parties have widely divergent positions on the basic issues of social and economic reforms," he said.
While there is "a strong foundation for moving forward with the peace negotiations," he said "both parties face a great task and challenge in coming up with mutually acceptable provisions."
The talks between the government and the rebels are due to start on April 27 in Oslo, Norway. They will be the first between the two sides since Mrs. Arroyo’s predecessor Joseph Estrada broke off negotiations in 1999.
Mrs. Arroyo’s appeal for a deadline was issued by her chief negotiator, former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello, in a speech during the "Solidarity Conference for a Just and Lasting Peace" sponsored by the Joint Peace Committee of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and the National Council of Churches of the Philippines at the Westin Philippine Plaza on Roxas Boulevard.
Mrs. Arroyo begged off from being the keynote speaker in the conference.
"The government panel would like now to propose for the consideration of the (guerrilla) panel to complete the talks in the next 18 months," Bello said.
His counterparts said they looked forward to resuming peace negotiations. The last round of talks collapsed when Estrada ordered a military onslaught against the 11,500-member New People’s Army (NPA), the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, in retaliation for a spate of kidnappings.
At least 500 unarmed communists and their sympathizers attended yesterday’s conference after being granted immunity by the government. Top Arroyo aides, members of Congress, politicians and religious leaders also attended.
Vice President and concurrent Foreign Secretary Teofisto Guingona and former President Fidel Ramos, Estrada’s predecessor, also attended.
The atmosphere was peaceful and formal with both government officials and rebel leaders garbed in traditional Filipino formal dress. There was no sign of the red flags and effigy burning that traditionally accompany leftist rallies.
Eduardo Ermita, President Arroyo’s adviser on the peace process, said that the conference was a "confidence-building measure." It was organized by various groups including Roman Catholic bishops.
The Maoist rebellion led by the Communist Party of the Philippines broke out in 1969.
The NPA reached its peak strength of more than 26,000 fighters in 1987 after short-lived peace talks following the collapse of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship. Internal divisions contributed to its decline in the 1990s but officials say the number of rebels recovered during the Estrada years.
Arroyo, whose government is also scheduled to begin peace talks with Muslim separatists in the south in two months, has expressed readiness to address many of the guerrillas’ less controversial demands for political and economic reforms.
In a statement, rebel leader Antonio Zumel urged Mrs. Arroyo to implement genuine land reform by actually "distributing land to the landless peasants" instead of making them shareholders of corporate farms.
"I hope that she likewise rethinks her stand on ‘globalization’ and other imperialist impositions" detrimental to Filipino workers, Zumel added.
Jalandoni later urged Arroyo to free more jailed rebels, and said NPA assassination units "will continue to give punishment" to soldiers and police during the peace talks.
The two sides have not signed a ceasefire pact. – Sandy Araneta, Marichu Villanueva