Stand-down agreement between Philippine government and communist rebels to begin next week

A stand-down agreement between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines will begin next week in line with the resumption of peace talks between the two sides in Oslo, Norway, The Manila Times Online reported on Thursday.

Exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison told reporters on Wednesday that the agreement was approved in wake of successful back-channel talks between negotiating panels of the government and the NDFP, the political arm of the CPP, in The Netherlands held last week.

The back-channel talks between the two warring sides began on June 6 when they discussed the drafting of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (Caser).

Sison had said that if the back-channel talks turned out to be fruitful by approving the Agrarian Reform and Rural Development and the National Industralization and Economic Development provisions of the Caser, the stand-down agreement would be declared.

The agreement will be implemented on June 21 instead of June 14, with the CPP founder noting the court’s “delayed” permission for the six NDFP consultants to travel to Oslo.  The formal peace talks will take place on June 28-30 in Oslo.

Sison said that the stand-down agreement was “an act of mutual goodwill to stimulate the resumption of formal peace talks.  It is also to prepare for the coordinated unilateral ceasefire, which is a more advanced form of ceasefire, he added.

He explained that the stand-down agreement would be the first phase of the bilateral ceasefire between the forces of the two sides.  It will evolve into a coordinated unilateral ceasefire upon approval of an interim peace agreement and all provisions under Caser.

Once it turned into a coordinated unilateral ceasefire, the two panels will declare a bilateral ceasefire, pending outcome of the formal peace talks.

Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana however said he wanted to be enlightened on  the stand-down agreement, noting that the New People’s Army, the armed wing of the CPP, might not obey it.