Communist rebels still open to talks, but...

MANILA, Philippines - The National Democratic Front (NDF) said Thursday that it remains open to continuing the peace talks, but insisted that the government free communist leaders facing criminal cases.

NDF negotiating panel chairman Luis Jalandoni said the freeing of rebels covered by immunity guarantees is an obligation of the government and not a precondition to the talks.

“The NDFP is willing to move towards the resumption of formal peace talks, based on the previously signed binding agreements,” Jalandoni said in a statement.

He said the government should honor previous accords like the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) under which insurgents working as peace consultants cannot be arrested or jailed.

“The public should be informed that the GPH (government of the Philippines) under the Aquino regime has not released a single detained NDFP consultant in compliance with JASIG,” Jalandoni said.

“All the five NDFP consultants released since 2010 have been due to legal actions undertaken by their lawyers,” he added.

Earlier, government negotiators blamed the NDF for the disruption of the peace talks, saying the communists are setting too many preconditions for the negotiations to resume.

Government chief negotiator Alexander Padilla said these preconditions include the freeing of jailed communists with pending criminal charges.

The government earlier said the JASIG has been rendered inoperative since the NDF cannot present proof that the jailed rebels are covered by immunity guarantees.

The NDF, however, said the government should continue to respect the JASIG, which was inked in 1995.

“The Aquino regime has shamelessly continued the Arroyo regime's practice of arresting and detaining NDFP consultants on false charges of common crimes and thereby violating both the JASIG and Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law,” Jalandoni said.

The NDF said the government was the one that set preconditions for the resumption of the talks.

“It is the GPH that insists on the precondition of indefinite ceasefires in violation of the the Hague Joint Declaration which puts the agenda on end of hostilities and disposition of forces as the final agreement,” Jalandoni said.

“The GPH also violates the aforesaid declaration by preconditioning formal talks with the capitulation or surrender of the NDF and the forces and people under the guise of demanding indefinite ceasefire,” he added.