CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/10 October) — The government peace panel will meet on Wednesday to discuss calls made for the release of detained National Democratic Front (NDF) peace consultants in light of the latter’s release of its captives in Mindanao over the weekend, a peace panel member said Monday. “The recent releases of their [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/15 Sept) – The demand for the release of the National Democratic Front’s (NDF) detained peace consultants prior to the resumption of formal talks with the government is not “just any precondition” but an “expressed requisite to peace negotiations as stipulated in The Hague Joint Declaration” both panels agreed to adhere [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/06 September) – The peace panels of government and the National Democratic Front should “exert more effort in ironing out” snags that led to the postponement of talks on the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (Caser), a church leader said on Monday. In a phone interview, Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) Bishop [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/1 September) – The communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) on Wednesday said it has tapped Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as resource person in the ongoing peace talks with the Philippine government even as its chief negotiator said more local government officials should be directly involved in the peace process as [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/13 Apr) – One of the top negotiators of the National Democratic Front (NDF) said the passports granted to three NDF consultants to join the Oslo talks last February were not “gifts” from the government but a compliance of the previous agreement providing security and immunity guarantee to NDF panel members. “If you [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/12 April)—The National Democratic Front (NDF) will agree to a truce with the government if President Benigno S. Aquino III signs the 10-point agenda earlier proposed by the rebel alliance to address the root cause of the communist-led armed struggle, Fidel Agcaoili, vice chair of the NDF peace panel said Tuesday. “Once President [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/12 April) – Two peace negotiators, one coming from the Philippine government and the other from the National Democratic Front (NDF) yesterday said the prospects for the recently resumed peace talks between the two parties were looking good. GPH peace panel member Ednar Dayanghirang and NDF peace panel vice chair Fidel Agcaoili spoke [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/14 March) – An official from the Office of Vice President Jejomar Binay appealed to the public not to be swayed by emotions over the spate of attacks staged by the communist New People’s Army (NPA) against security forces amid the resumption of talks between the rebel group and the Philippine government. Assistant [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/28 February) – Communist rebels should stop their “extortion” activities if they are really sincere in their efforts to talk peace with the government, Bukidnon Gov. Alex Calingasan said. Calingasan hit the New People’s Army, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, for allegedly resorting to burning or destroying equipment owned [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/16 Feb) — Peace advocates in Mindanao hailed the renewed talks between the government and the communist rebels saying the negotiations can become an opportunity to better understand the problems of the peoples in the region. In a press statement, Bishop Modesto Villasanta, one of the convenors of the clergy-led “Sowing the Seeds [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/14 Feb) —  A militant group here on Monday urged the inclusion of the labor row and land use issues at the fruit giant Dole Philippines, Inc. (Dolefil), in the  first formal peace negotiations on February 15 to 21 between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GPH) under the Aquino [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/16 January) –  His disappointment over the arrest of an alleged New People Army (NPA) leader on New Year’s Day was “nothing personal” but “a question of principle,” Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said. “It’s a question of principle because we are all in government,” said Duterte in his weekly television program,Gikan sa Masa para [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/15 January)—Accusations of harassment and other abuses against civilians and groups suspected of supporting the underground movement greeted the initial deployment of the Army’s so-called peace and development teams implementing the Bayanihan counterinsurgency campaign in Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley. One of the groups that complained of harassment was Sildap, a nongovernment [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/15 January) — The 4th Infantry Division announced it was willing to extend medical assistance to National Democratic Front – Mindanao Spokesperson Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos who has been suffering from a renal ailment. A source in the underground movement, however, laughed off the offer as “cheap gimmick,” saying Madlos, 62, [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/03 January) — The military had nothing to do with the arrest of a New People’s Army rebel in Toril district here at dawn of New Year’s Day, and nor was it a violation of the 19-day ceasefire between the rebels and government which ends midnight today, a police official said. Supt. Querubin [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/02 January) — The Communist New People’s Army said the government has violated the mutually-declared ceasefire with the NPA, with the New Year’s day arrest of their comrade Edwin Brigano in Toril district. Rigoberto F. Sanchez, spokesperson of the NPA’s  Merardo Arce Command, said Brigano, 53,was arrested at 3 am on January 1 [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/28 December) — Soldiers also look forward to the resumption of peace talks between the government and the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) but it should take place under a ceasefire, the spokesperson of the 10th Infantry Division stationed in Camp Panacan here said. ”Peace is what we soldiers want,” said Lt. Col. [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/27 December) – Civilians will continue to bear the brunt of the armed conflict in Southern Mindanao unless the peace talks between the government and the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) will resume, a leader of the partylist group Bayan Muna said. Ariel Casilao, regional coordinator of Bayan Muna for Southern Mindanao, said [...]

SAN AGUSTIN, Surigao del Sur (MindaNews/27 December) — With barely two kilometers and a hill separating a large column of communist rebels and a platoon of government soldiers, Asia’s longest running insurgency celebrated its 42nd founding anniversary before thousands of supporters and barely two months before the expected resumption of the peace negotiation between the [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/07 December) – The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today issued a ceasefire order to its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), that will take effect for 19 days starting December 16. “We hereby declare to all commands and units of the New People’s Army (NPA) and [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/04 December) – From December 16 to January 3, 2011 the guns will hopefully be silent, as the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) have agreed to a ceasefire in observance of the yuletide season and the New Year. In a statement dated December 3, Luis Jalandoni, chair [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/30 November) — The National Democratic Front (NDF) in Mindanao urged peace advocates in the island to convince the Aquino government not to ”dilly-dally” on the resumption of peace talks with the communist-led rebel group and with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Jorge ”Ka Oris” Madlos, spokesperson of NDFP-Mindanao, said in a statement [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/18 October)- Indigenous peoples and civil society groups today called on the Aquino administration to resume the peace talks with the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) to stop the further displacement of communities affected by hostilities between the rebels and government forces. “We are calling on the national government to resume the peace [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/17 September) — The communist-led New People’s Army has branded as pure propaganda claims by the military that it is using landmines that endanger civilians. The NPA was responding to statements coming from the military that it uses anti-personnel and anti-vehicle landmines that endanger non-combatants. Military officials issued the pronouncements after [...]