Philippine government, communist rebels agree on indefinite truce

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Communist Party of the Philippines' Benito Tiamzon (centre) and his wife Wilma Austria Tiamzon (left) next to Jose Maria Sison, the exiled founder of the Communist Party. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:19pm, 26 Aug 2016

The Philippine government and Communist guerrillas have agreed to an indefinite extension to a ceasefire to facilitate talks on a peace deal, Norway, which is playing the role of intermediary, announced on Friday.

“Representatives of the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) Communist movement will sign on Friday August 26, at 11am (0900 GMT), a joint declaration in which the two sides commit to unilateral ceasefires without a limitation in time,” the Norwegian foreign ministry said.

Norway is playing the role of go-between in the talks, which aim at ending one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende (third right), and Elisabeth Slaattum (third left), from Norwegian Foreign Minister’s office, with Philippine Presidential Advisor on the Peace Process Silvestre Bello III, left, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant and Communist Party of the Philippines founder chair Jose Maria Sison (second left), and Philippine Presidential Peace Talks Adviser Jesus Dureza (second right). Photo: AP

The Communist Party of the Philippines launched a rebellion in 1968 that has so far claimed the lives of 30,000 people, according to official estimates.

Its armed faction, the New People’s Army (NPA), is now believed to have fewer than 4,000 gunmen, down from a peak of 26,000 in the 1980s, when a bloodless revolt ended the 20-year dictatorship of late president Ferdinand Marcos.

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