Philippine Government and Communist Rebels Extend Cease-Fire

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/27/world/asia/philippines-communist-rebels-cease-fire.html

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MANILA — The Philippine government and Communist rebels agreed on Friday to extend a mutual cease-fire and return to the negotiating table in October as they wrapped up their first round of peace talks after a five-year impasse.

A joint statement issued after five days of talks in Oslo said the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, had agreed to “declare and issue an indefinite unilateral cease-fire,” extending a truce that had been scheduled to end on Saturday.

Both sides agreed to return to negotiations Oct. 8 to 12 in Oslo.

The Philippines’ presidential peace adviser, Jesus Dureza, said that President Rodrigo Duterte should share credit for the accord. He said the talks were “a milestone” in more than 40 years of a rebellion that has left vast areas of the countryside mired in poverty and at least 35,000 soldiers, rebels and civilians dead.

“Not only has President Duterte walked the extra mile, he has also taken the step back to give the N.D.F. space under his democratic and inclusive government,” Mr. Dureza said in a statement, using the initials of the Communists’ political wing, the National Democratic Front.

“We will go home with a promise of a just and lasting peace and our soldiers and the combatants of the N.D.F. finally coming to terms that the war must end,” he said.

The Communist Party began its rebellion in 1968, but its armed wing has diminished drastically because of government successes on the battlefield.

The movement drew its base from Filipinos angered by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos’s ironhanded rule, and the Philippine Army estimated that the rebel forces at their height numbered 25,000. But after the collapse of Communism worldwide and the overthrow of Mr. Marcos in 1986, rebel fighters are now estimated to number just 4,000.

Mr. Duterte has made peace overtures to the exiled Communist Party founder, Jose Maria Sison, 77, who was once his university professor.

The president has also dangled the possibility of rebel participation in a coalition government and has named some well-known leftists to his cabinet.

In addition, he has released more than 20 rebels from prison to act as “consultants” to the talks, in a gesture that had often been rejected by previous governments.

On Friday, both sides agreed to the “reconstitution” of an earlier agreement ensuring guarantees of safety and immunity for rebel leaders as well as the continued “releases of political prisoners.”

“I am sure that the Filipino people appreciate the work of the two negotiating panels and that they are elated by the results of the formal talks,” Mr. Sison said in a statement. “These advance their struggle for national and social liberation and for a just and lasting peace.”

Luis Jalandoni, the Communists’ chief peace negotiator, said he expected more rebel prisoners to be freed soon.

He said the talks in October were expected to address “social, economic and political reforms.”

Negotiations between the two sides fell apart in 2001 when the rebels backed out after the United States government designated them a foreign terrorist organization, making it difficult for their movement to obtain overseas funding.

Peace efforts resumed in 2011, but they have often broken down, with each side accusing the other of insincerity and of carrying out attacks.