In December 2023, the Philippine government announced the resumption of peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), which had been on hold since 2018. The agreement was recorded in a joint statement on 23 November in Oslo, Norway.
The Philippine government and the NDFP, which negotiated on behalf of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), perceived a common security threat in the increasing tensions with China, which was one of the triggers for the resumption of the peace talks. Colonel Medel Aguilar, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), explained that ending the armed conflict in the country was the common goal of the peace talks.
Vice President and vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), Sara Duterte, described the peace talks as a “deal with the devil.” The government will continue its counter-insurgency operations during the peace talks as no preconditions or ceasefires have been agreed upon.
On January 22, 2024, 42 civil society organizations, led by Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst (forumZFD), issued a statement that strongly supports the resumption of peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the NDFP. The organizations also called on all stakeholders to put aside political differences and make the goal of a just peace their top priority. The signatories also emphasized the unique opportunity to implement relevant socio-economic and political reforms to achieve a just and lasting peace in the country and build on the achievements of previous rounds of negotiations, particularly the recent breakthrough in the Oslo Joint Statement of November 2023.
Photo © Raffy Lerma